Scope:

The act under evaluation was Directive 2005/44/EC on harmonised river information services (RIS) on inland waterways in the Community. The evaluation also took into account the implementation process for the five Implementing Acts concerning guidelines and technical specifications for RIS, and how they have contributed to the overall achievement of the objectives of the Directive. The evaluation period spanned from January 2005 to December 2018 and assessed the implementation of the Directive in 13 EU Member States and 2 non-EU countries.

Evaluation findings:

The main findings of the evaluation were:

• The evaluation had mixed results as regards the achievement of the general objectives of the Directive, as there is no robust evidence that the RIS Directive had an impact on the growth of the inland navigation sector or led to the optimised use of existing infrastructure. Nevertheless, there is a clear perception among all stakeholder groups that the RIS Directive has contributed to improved safety in inland navigation.

• The evaluation findings concerning the effectiveness of the Directive suggest that the degree of harmonisation differs between RIS technologies.

• Concerning the efficiency of the RIS Directive, there is very limited evidence for the overall costs the Directive has entailed to establish interoperable, harmonised RIS. There is a potential for simplification and reduction of regulatory burden emerging from the slow update and adoption process of technical standards, which leads the sector to work with outdated standards, thus imposing a cost that could likely be reduced through changes to the process.

• The evaluation found that the RIS Directive and its implementing acts are still relevant. Evidence suggests that there has been a high degree of alignment between the objectives laid out in the Directive and the needs of the inland waterway transport sector. Stakeholder consultations unveiled a paradigm shift for digitalisation in inland navigation, from safety of navigation to improving efficiency and establishing stronger links with other modes of transport.

• The RIS Directive has a clear EU added value, even though it is difficult to quantify the findings due to the difficulty of attributing actual (observed) EU added value on the basis of evidence. There is a strong impulse towards standardisation and harmonisation of river information services across Europe as a result of the common EU-wide technical standards introduced by the RIS Directive, and towards an increase in safety.

Which objective(s) does the Commission pursue?

The general objective of the initiative sets out the ambition to provide an effective framework for the deployment and use of harmonised RIS in the EU, with a focus on enabling improvements in the competitiveness and safety of the sector, and its contribution towards the European Green Deal objectives.

The specific objectives are:

1. To ensure improved RIS data availability, access and harmonised standards used and facilitate the efficient exchange and use of data within the inland waterways and transport and with other transport modes;

2. To ensure higher uptake and interoperability of digital solutions and address data protection concerns.

Estimated savings and benefits

Evidence from the evaluation indicates potential for simplification and reduction of regulatory costs linked to the slow update and adoption process of technical standards. The impact assessment will, amongst other routes, assess how a revised RIS Directive can take due account of CESNI⁵ and the ES-RIS⁶ to simplify the process and improve the efficiency of data exchange.

⁵ European Committee for drawing up standards in the field of inland navigation

⁶ European Standard for River Information Services (ES-RIS)