Annex II+III amendment to Implementing Rules on the interoperability of spatial data sets and services published

On 10th of December, Regulation (EU) No 1253/2013 (the Annex II+III amendment of the Implementing Rules on interoperability of spatial data sets and services) was published in the Official Journal. At the same time the Technical Guidelines for Annex II and III were published on the INSPIRE site. The legal act complements other INSPIRE legal acts and standards, that together form the basis of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) that Directive 2007/2/EC envisions.

As probably the world’s single largest data harmonization effort for environmental information, the new Regulation is a milestone in the development of INSPIRE. It is the result of effort of hundreds of experts from across Europe that have been working together for several years to agree common definitions in important policy areas such as energy, climate change, biodiversity, the marine environment, and human health.  The European Commission INSPIRE team would like to express gratitude to the experts who participated in the development of the Technical Guidelines and to those stakeholders who participated in the consultations and testing.