1. There has been a high level of information sharing and joint assessment in the North-East Atlantic through the work of the OSPAR Commission which has repeatedly undertaken integrated environmental assessments. 2. The OSPAR Quality Status Report 2010, together with its underlying assessment reports, provides the primary basis for coordination of national initial assessments across the North East Atlantic OSPAR Contracting Parties / EU Member States. The QSR provides an overarching summary of environmental state across the Region and the five subregions. It provides evidence that OSPAR has provided Contracting Parties / EU Member States a basis to ensure regional and subregional coherence of their initial assessments. Contracting Parties agreed they should aim to refer to the QSR and, when appropriate, the underlying assessments in their national initial assessments. 3. As regards the conclusions of national initial assessments, it was agreed within OSPAR that further coordination should be carried out between relevant Contracting Parties at a sub-regional level. Contracting Parties / EU Member States were requested to share planning information to make this possible. 4. An OSPAR socio-economic analysis is being taken forward and will provide a strong basis for more detailed coordination of the socio-economic element of the MSFD assessments process in the future. 5. No significant differences in National Initial Assessments were identified through sub-regional coordination in the first half of 2012 and no country has flagged major inconsistencies in the conclusions of neighbouring national initial assessments. From: OSPAR 2012 Summary Record, Annex05. For further information refer to the OSPAR report: “Finding common ground – Towards regional coherence in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the North-East Atlantic region through the work of the OSPAR Commission”. OSPAR publication 578/2012

International coordination has been pursued through OSPAR (A) and through bilateral contacts (B): (A) OSPAR 1. There has been a high level of sharing of existing methodologies for determining GES and of coordination in further developing them through work of the OSPAR Commission. 2. OSPAR bodies have developed internal ‘Advice documents’ on determining GES and setting targets and indicators for GES the Descriptors (with the exception of D3 and D9) taking account of information available at all relevant levels (EU to national). 3. There has been a collective examination of the emerging GES determinations by countries through the creation of an inventory of emerging national proposals for Descriptors 3,5,7,8,9,10 and 11. This inventory was created in late 2011 and updated in mid 2012. The inventory was analysed to make an assessment of the level of regional coherence and specific actions were identified to improve regional coordination on Article 9 for a number of the GES Descriptors, both before and after the 2012 deadline. For the biodiversity Descriptors (1,2,4 and 6) countries are sharing expertise on common approaches (see Art.10). 4. OSPAR EU Member States have agreed high-level, qualitative statements of GES for Descriptors [5,10 and 11] that are included in the OSPAR report on regional MSFD coordination published by the OSPAR Commission. Member States may refer to these in their national articulations of Article 9. 5. Analysis of Contracting Parties draft proposals for Articles 8 and 9 has concluded that there is a good degree of coordination and alignment with regard to Descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10, a fair degree of coordination with regard to Descriptors 3 and 11, and a relatively low level of coordination with regard to Descriptor 7. From: OSPAR 2012 Summary Record, Annex05. For further information refer to the OSPAR report: “Finding common ground – Towards regional coherence in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the North-East Atlantic region through the work of the OSPAR Commission”. OSPAR publication 578/2012 (B) Bilateral informal coordination has been pursued through a bilateral meeting on Articles 8, 9 and 10 with NL in Autumn 2011. Differences and similarities were discussed in relation to the contents and main conclusions of the Initial Assessments and national ambitions in environmental target setting and potential management measures. Belgium organised a workshop with both national stakeholders and representatives from neighbouring countries (NL, UK, FR) to discuss the Belgian drafts for Art. 9 and 10 products. This led to e.g. more emphasis on ‘pressure’ indicators for seafloor integrity. In addition to these bilateral contacts, Belgium participated in the informal 'North-Sea' meetings (organised by NL) to exchange views on current MSFD products and potential future cooperation in the North Sea.

International coordination has been pursued through OSPAR (A) and through bilateral contacts (B): (A) OSPAR 1. There has been a moderate level of information sharing on the development of coordinated environmental targets and indicators 2. OSPAR bodies have developed internal ‘Advice documents’ on determining GES and setting targets and indicators for GES the Descriptors (with the exception of D3 and D9) taking account of information available at all relevant levels (EU to national). 3. There has been a collective examination of the emerging national GES targets and indicators through a number of processes. 4. For Descriptors 3,5,7,8,9,10 and 11 an inventory was created to capture emerging national proposals. This inventory was created in late 2011 and updated in mid 2012. The inventory was analysed to make an assessment of the level of regional coherence and specific actions were identified to improve regional coordination on Article 10 for a number of the GES Descriptors both before and after the 2012 deadline. 5. For Descriptors 1, 2, 4 and 6 OSPAR has an intensive programme of work led by the Intersessional Correspondence Group on Coordinated Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring (COBAM) to coordinate national approaches to biodiversity targets and indicators, including the on-going development of a proposed set of common OSPAR biodiversity indicators for MSFD. 6. Analysis of Contracting Parties draft proposals for Articles 8 and 9 has concluded that there is a good degree of coordination and alignment with regard to Descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10, a fair degree of coordination with regard to Descriptors 3 and 11, and a relatively low level of coordination with regard to Descriptor 7. From: OSPAR 2012 Summary Record, Annex05. For further information refer to the OSPAR report: “Finding common ground – Towards regional coherence in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the North-East Atlantic region through the work of the OSPAR Commission”. OSPAR publication 578/2012 (B) Bilateral informal coordination has been pursued through a bilateral meeting on Articles 8, 9 and 10 with NL in Autumn 2011. Differences and similarities were discussed in relation to the contents and main conclusions of the Initial Assessments and national ambitions in environmental target setting and potential management measures. Belgium organised a workshop with both national stakeholders and representatives from neighbouring countries (NL, UK, FR) to discuss the Belgian drafts for Art. 9 and 10 products. This led to e.g. more emphasis on ‘pressure’ indicators for seafloor integrity. In addition to these bilateral contacts, Belgium participated in the informal 'North-Sea' meetings (organised by NL) to exchange views on current MSFD products and potential future cooperation in the North Sea.

1. There has been a high level of information sharing and joint assessment in the North-East Atlantic through the work of the OSPAR Commission which has repeatedly undertaken integrated environmental assessments. 2. The OSPAR Quality Status Report 2010, together with its underlying assessment reports, provides the primary basis for coordination of national initial assessments across the North East Atlantic OSPAR Contracting Parties / EU Member States. The QSR provides an overarching summary of environmental state across the Region and the five subregions. It provides evidence that OSPAR has provided Contracting Parties / EU Member States a basis to ensure regional and subregional coherence of their initial assessments. Contracting Parties agreed they should aim to refer to the QSR and, when appropriate, the underlying assessments in their national initial assessments. 3. As regards the conclusions of national initial assessments, it was agreed within OSPAR that further coordination should be carried out between relevant Contracting Parties at a sub-regional level. Contracting Parties / EU Member States were requested to share planning information to make this possible. 4. An OSPAR socio-economic analysis is being taken forward and will provide a strong basis for more detailed coordination of the socio-economic element of the MSFD assessments process in the future. 5. No significant differences in National Initial Assessments were identified through sub-regional coordination in the first half of 2012 and no country has flagged major inconsistencies in the conclusions of neighbouring national initial assessments. From: OSPAR 2012 Summary Record, Annex05. For further information refer to the OSPAR report: “Finding common ground – Towards regional coherence in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the North-East Atlantic region through the work of the OSPAR Commission”. OSPAR publication 578/2012

International coordination has been pursued through OSPAR (A) and through bilateral contacts (B): (A) OSPAR 1. There has been a high level of sharing of existing methodologies for determining GES and of coordination in further developing them through work of the OSPAR Commission. 2. OSPAR bodies have developed internal ‘Advice documents’ on determining GES and setting targets and indicators for GES the Descriptors (with the exception of D3 and D9) taking account of information available at all relevant levels (EU to national). 3. There has been a collective examination of the emerging GES determinations by countries through the creation of an inventory of emerging national proposals for Descriptors 3,5,7,8,9,10 and 11. This inventory was created in late 2011 and updated in mid 2012. The inventory was analysed to make an assessment of the level of regional coherence and specific actions were identified to improve regional coordination on Article 9 for a number of the GES Descriptors, both before and after the 2012 deadline. For the biodiversity Descriptors (1,2,4 and 6) countries are sharing expertise on common approaches (see Art.10). 4. OSPAR EU Member States have agreed high-level, qualitative statements of GES for Descriptors [5,10 and 11] that are included in the OSPAR report on regional MSFD coordination published by the OSPAR Commission. Member States may refer to these in their national articulations of Article 9. 5. Analysis of Contracting Parties draft proposals for Articles 8 and 9 has concluded that there is a good degree of coordination and alignment with regard to Descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10, a fair degree of coordination with regard to Descriptors 3 and 11, and a relatively low level of coordination with regard to Descriptor 7. From: OSPAR 2012 Summary Record, Annex05. For further information refer to the OSPAR report: “Finding common ground – Towards regional coherence in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the North-East Atlantic region through the work of the OSPAR Commission”. OSPAR publication 578/2012 (B) Bilateral informal coordination has been pursued through a bilateral meeting on Articles 8, 9 and 10 with NL in Autumn 2011. Differences and similarities were discussed in relation to the contents and main conclusions of the Initial Assessments and national ambitions in environmental target setting and potential management measures. Belgium organised a workshop with both national stakeholders and representatives from neighbouring countries (NL, UK, FR) to discuss the Belgian drafts for Art. 9 and 10 products. This led to e.g. more emphasis on ‘pressure’ indicators for seafloor integrity. In addition to these bilateral contacts, Belgium participated in the informal 'North-Sea' meetings (organised by NL) to exchange views on current MSFD products and potential future cooperation in the North Sea.

International coordination has been pursued through OSPAR (A) and through bilateral contacts (B): (A) OSPAR 1. There has been a moderate level of information sharing on the development of coordinated environmental targets and indicators 2. OSPAR bodies have developed internal ‘Advice documents’ on determining GES and setting targets and indicators for GES the Descriptors (with the exception of D3 and D9) taking account of information available at all relevant levels (EU to national). 3. There has been a collective examination of the emerging national GES targets and indicators through a number of processes. 4. For Descriptors 3,5,7,8,9,10 and 11 an inventory was created to capture emerging national proposals. This inventory was created in late 2011 and updated in mid 2012. The inventory was analysed to make an assessment of the level of regional coherence and specific actions were identified to improve regional coordination on Article 10 for a number of the GES Descriptors both before and after the 2012 deadline. 5. For Descriptors 1, 2, 4 and 6 OSPAR has an intensive programme of work led by the Intersessional Correspondence Group on Coordinated Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring (COBAM) to coordinate national approaches to biodiversity targets and indicators, including the on-going development of a proposed set of common OSPAR biodiversity indicators for MSFD. 6. Analysis of Contracting Parties draft proposals for Articles 8 and 9 has concluded that there is a good degree of coordination and alignment with regard to Descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10, a fair degree of coordination with regard to Descriptors 3 and 11, and a relatively low level of coordination with regard to Descriptor 7. From: OSPAR 2012 Summary Record, Annex05. For further information refer to the OSPAR report: “Finding common ground – Towards regional coherence in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the North-East Atlantic region through the work of the OSPAR Commission”. OSPAR publication 578/2012 (B) Bilateral informal coordination has been pursued through a bilateral meeting on Articles 8, 9 and 10 with NL in Autumn 2011. Differences and similarities were discussed in relation to the contents and main conclusions of the Initial Assessments and national ambitions in environmental target setting and potential management measures. Belgium organised a workshop with both national stakeholders and representatives from neighbouring countries (NL, UK, FR) to discuss the Belgian drafts for Art. 9 and 10 products. This led to e.g. more emphasis on ‘pressure’ indicators for seafloor integrity. In addition to these bilateral contacts, Belgium participated in the informal 'North-Sea' meetings (organised by NL) to exchange views on current MSFD products and potential future cooperation in the North Sea.