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Food, Farming, Fisheries
Maritime Forum

Roadmap

Since 2007, the Common Information Sharing Environment (Maritime CISE) has been one of the five pillars of the EC’s Integrated Maritime Policy

Roadmap

Since 2007, the Common Information Sharing Environment (Maritime CISE) has been one of the five pillars of the EC’s Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP[1]). It is therefore an important part of DG MARE mission and a necessary tool to allow for the security, safety and sustainability in Europe, and well as for Blue Growth, which is the environmentally sustainable and inclusive harnessing of all that the oceans have to offer, bringing new, high quality jobs and ensuring welfare for Europe.

CISE also responds to the Europe 2020 agenda, as a smart solution to modernise and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of maritime surveillance in Europe, and thus relates directly to the EU’s new Maritime Security Strategy.

CISE has the support of the European Council and Parliament, but also relies on voluntary development by the 23 EU coastal states: that is why collective engagement is ultimately necessary. The European Commission supplies the interoperability tools and solutions, while the spirit of sharing comes from the Member States and agencies involved.

Similar initiatives involving the collaborative sharing of information are being carried out in other countries and sectors, such as health and policing, under the banners of ISA (Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations) and Digital Agenda, the strategy to help every European profit as much as possible from the digital economy.

By 2010, much collective progress had already been made, and now, in 2014, CISE is very much defined, both technically and operationally. In order to become fully functional by 2020, CISE’s roadmap[2] requires the voluntary and continuous participation of all stakeholders, making full use of current achievements, carrying out large scale trials, and ensuring co-owned and best-possible solutions to each and all of the challenges ahead.

roadmap
roadmap

DG MARE is coordinating the timely and collaborative implementation of this roadmap. Work to do includes:

On-going efforts:

  • Member States are responsible to modernise their national maritime surveillance IT set-ups, in particular as regards cross-sector communication. There is some EU funding available to do this.
  • The EC is currently reviewing existing legislation to remove any remaining legal barriers to cross-sectorial information sharing, at European and national levels. It is also leading the reflection on the administrative structures needed to manage the Maritime CISE.
  • As a continuous responsibility, the EC is also committed to coordinate and facilitate CISE development and contributions from Member States and surveillance authorities.
  • Member States are also encouraged to engage the competent data protection authorities at national level as early as possible, to ensure that that operational means and objectives comply with existing legislation.

Starting 2014

  • The Commission plans to launch a large scale Maritime CISE testing project between civilian and military authorities, funded under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7).
  • The EC will also strongly foster the uptake of relevant and useful innovation from related FP7 and Horizon2020 projects.

By the end of 2016

  • In close collaboration with Member States, the EC will develop a non-binding Maritime CISE handbook, with ‘Best Practices’, technical information and practical recommendations on how to apply CISE and disseminate a collaborative new approach based on the sharing of relevant information.
  • The EC will also support measures to develop and disseminate interoperability standards, which nowadays is a major challenge for cooperation between sectors, Member States and industry developments.
  • Through this inclusive standard-based innovation and new IT solutions, further support will be given to the development of virtual collaboration tools (video and audio conferencing, instant messaging, p2p file transfer) between existing IT systems.

By 2018

  • The EC will launch a review process to assess the implementation of the Maritime CISE and identify the needs for further action.

Member States are responsible for ensuring the effective surveillance of waters under their sovereignty (and high seas if relevant), and because operational exchange of information is a necessity, the Commission invites all stakeholders to participate and actively contribute to the successful implementation of the Maritime CISE.

[1] COM(2007) 575 final “An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union”. COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

[2] COM(2010) 584 final. “Integrating Maritime Surveillance”. COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON A DRAFT ROADMAP TOWARDS ESTABLISHING THE COMMON INFORMATION SHARING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE SURVEILLANCE OF THE EU MARITIME DOMAIN.