title: Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/1970 of 10 November 2021 on a common European data space for cultural heritage

text:
               12.11.2021

               EN

               Official Journal of the European Union

               L 401/5

      COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION (EU) 2021/1970
      of 10 November 2021
      on a common European data space for cultural heritage
      THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
      Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 292 thereof,
      Whereas:

                  (1)

                  Digital technologies have been changing our lives at a fast pace, providing new opportunities for society, including cultural heritage institutions. Digital technologies offer cultural heritage institutions more effective tools with which they can digitise cultural heritage assets and reach broader audiences. This creates more ways for the public to access, discover, explore and enjoy cultural assets and creates more possibilities for reusing cultural assets for innovative and creative services and products in various sectors, such as other cultural and creative sectors, as well as tourism.

                  (2)

                  As the Communication ‘2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade’ (1) underlines, digital technologies have become, more than ever, essential to working, learning, socialising, enjoying entertainment and accessing a wide range of services and products from health services to culture.

                  (3)

                  The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the strengths and vulnerabilities of the cultural heritage sector and the need to accelerate its digital transformation to make the most of the opportunities provided. Many cultural institutions incurred a major financial loss or had to close. Nonetheless, despite the financial challenges created by the pandemic, many also managed to retain or even expand their audiences by increasing their digital services (e.g. engaging with audiences, sharing collections, offering digital tools), demonstrating once more their high value to society and to the European economy.

                  (4)

                  Cultural heritage is not only a key element in building a European identity that relies on common values but also an important contributor to the European economy, fostering innovation, creativity and economic growth. For example, cultural tourism represents up to 40 % of all tourism in Europe (2), and cultural heritage is an essential part of cultural tourism. Advanced digitisation of cultural heritage assets and the reuse of such content can generate new jobs not only in the cultural heritage sector but also in other cultural and creative sectors, including for instance the video game and film industries. Cultural and creative industries contribute to 3,95 % of EU value added (EUR 477 billion), employ 8,02 million people and involve 1,2 million firms of which 99,9 % are SMEs (3).

                  (5)

                  The evaluation (4) of the Commission Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (2011/711/EU) concluded that several of the challenges faced by the cultural heritage sector 10 years ago are still present today, such as the urgent need to protect and preserve European cultural heritage, and, in particular, endangered cultural heritage. However, the evaluation also acknowledged that the cultural heritage landscape had changed significantly over the past years, with new needs, but, above all, with new opportunities that could further increase cultural heritage’s contribution to the European economy. It is therefore necessary to ensure a policy response that meets these new needs and expectations of the cultural heritage sector, of the cultural and creative sectors and of society in general.

                  (6)

                  This Recommendation encourages Member States to put in place appropriate frameworks to enhance the recovery and transformation of the cultural heritage sector and to support cultural heritage institutions in becoming more empowered and more resilient in the future. This will lead to higher quality digitisation, reuse and digital preservation across the EU, and have spillover effects in other key sectors of the European economy, such as tourism, research, and other cultural and creative sectors.

                  (7)

                  Member States have various approaches to cultural heritage, addressing the specific characteristics and needs of cultural heritage institutions to a varying extent. A comprehensive digital strategy for the cultural heritage sector, setting up a clear and concrete vision and the most appropriate means for implementing it, would ensure a more effective policy response and make the sector stronger. In order to achieve an effective digital transformation, establish confidence and strong cooperation, Member States should involve all the relevant stakeholders in preparing the strategy.

                  (8)

                  The development of advanced digital technologies, such as 3D, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, data technologies, virtual reality and augmented reality, has brought unprecedented opportunities for digitisation, online access and digital preservation. Advanced digital technologies lead to more efficient processes (e.g. automated generation of metadata, knowledge extraction, automated translation, text recognition by optical character recognition systems) and higher quality content. They allow innovative forms of artistic creation, while opening up new ways of digitally engaging with and enjoying cultural content through co-curation, co-design and crowdsourcing, empowering public participation. Artificial intelligence, blockchain and other advanced technologies can also be explored for automatically identifying cultural goods that are illicitly trafficked. The uptake of such advanced technologies has a significant impact on European recovery and growth following the COVID-19 pandemic, and Member States should support it by taking appropriate measures.

                  (9)

                  Moreover, Member States and cultural heritage institutions should make use of the unprecedented opportunities provided by the advanced digital technologies to drive climate action and support transition to a greener and more sustainable EU economy, as set out in the European Green Deal (5) . For instance, cultural heritage assets digitised in 3D can be a source of relevant knowledge on climate-related impact, adaptation and resilience (e.g. 3D allows non-destructive analysis of assets, visualisation of damages and information for restoration, conservation, etc.). Likewise, digital twins and Earth observation technologies may be of key importance in increasing resilience to climate change and supporting preventive conservation of cultural heritage monuments, buildings and sites. In this context, digitisation is also a driver to support experts to fight environmental crime on specific sites.

                  (10)

                  It is important that Member States continue their efforts to digitise (6) and digitally preserve cultural heritage assets. Setting up specific goals for digitisation and preservation, based on an assessment of the needs and on clear and objective criteria, would lead to concrete and measurable results. This would be particularly important for cultural heritage at risk. In such cases, 3D digitisation with the highest level of detail may even be a necessity, for example for conservation and restoration purposes. However, even where the risk of deterioration or destruction is low, it should be a priority given the high reuse potential of digitised cultural heritage assets, such as for innovative experiences and sustainable tourism, to support the overall recovery and resilience of the economy, in line with the goals of the European Green Deal. Moreover, Member States should strengthen their efforts for under digitised domains, such as buildings, monuments and sites, and intangible cultural heritage.

                  (11)

                  In addition to serving preservation and restoration purposes, 3D technologies may also provide increased opportunities for cultural heritage institutions to reach wider audiences with more immersive experiences that include virtual access to places which are normally inaccessible (e.g. underwater) or temporarily closed, or to reach persons with visual impairments by offering, for example, accessible tactile experiences. Therefore, a particular focus on 3D digitisation of cultural heritage at risk and of the most visited cultural and heritage monuments, buildings and sites would enhance the value and the potential of cultural heritage. This would also be in line with the Declaration on ‘Cooperation on advancing digitisation of cultural heritage’ of April 2019 (7), where Member States agreed to step up efforts and pursue progress together, under the pillar of a pan-European initiative for 3D digitisation of cultural heritage artefacts, monuments and sites.

                  (12)

                  Nonetheless, digitisation does not entail digital preservation by default. To ensure access to the digitised assets in the long term, Member States need to carefully plan and carry out the digital preservation of their assets, considering all the relevant financial, organisational and technical challenges over the long term. The digital preservation goals may include not only the cultural heritage assets that are considered a priority for digitisation (e.g. assets at risk, most visited monuments and sites, or under digitised domains) but also previously digitised assets.

                  (13)

                  The current financial framework provides unprecedented opportunities for Member States to use different funding streams in order to significantly boost digitisation and preservation and build significantly more capacity in the cultural heritage sector. Member States should increase awareness among the sector’s players about the funding opportunities that Digital Europe, Horizon Europe (8), the Cohesion policy Funds (9), REACT-EU (10), the Technical Support Instrument (11) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (12) provide to support the investments needed for the sector’s recovery and digital transformation, to give wider access to culture and to have a positive impact on local communities.

                  (14)

                  Digitising Europe’s cultural heritage requires significant financial resources. In order to share the financial efforts and at the same time speed up public access to cultural heritage, cultural heritage institutions are cooperating with private actors. Yet, many of these cooperation arrangements grant exclusive rights to the private partners. Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13) establishes a set of minimum rules governing reuse and lays down practical arrangements to make it easier to reuse existing documents held by public sector bodies of the Member States. In particular, it requires the cultural heritage institutions falling under its scope (e.g. museums, archives, libraries) to comply with specific provisions on exclusive arrangements, as laid down in Article 12 of the Directive. In order to facilitate fair and non-discriminatory access for all to cultural heritage assets, cultural heritage institutions partnering with the private sector, including those not falling under the scope of the abovementioned Directive, should aim to apply the principles laid down in said Article 12.

                  (15)

                  As underlined in the European Skills Agenda (14), the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the already existing digital skills gap, while new inequalities have been emerging, as many professionals do not have the required level of digital skills that are needed at the workplace. This is also valid for the cultural heritage sector, where the digital divide leaves small institutions (e.g. museums) in particular struggling to make use of advanced technologies, such as 3D or artificial intelligence. Therefore, in line with the European Skills Agenda and its first flagship initiative, the Pact for Skills, and in support of the European Pillar of Social Rights action plan (15), Member States should set specific targets for upskilling or reskilling cultural heritage professionals. Complementary to this, and building on the Blueprint Alliance for cultural heritage (CHARTER), the cultural and creative industries, as one of the 14 eco-systems identified by the single market strategy, are currently building a large-scale partnership for skills development that should join the Pact for Skills.

                  (16)

                  Cultural heritage institutions have encountered different copyright-related obstacles when digitising and sharing cultural heritage, such as the costs associated with clearing rights, lack of sufficient copyright expertise among cultural heritage professionals, limitations to cross border cooperation between institutions. Specific measures have therefore been taken at the EU level to address such challenges. For instance, Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council (16) on copyright and related rights in the digital single market lays down various provisions modernising the copyright framework that governs how cultural heritage institutions operate in the digital environment. One of the most important changes introduced by the Directive is a clear framework for the digitisation and dissemination of out-of-commerce works that cultural heritage institutions have in their collections. Moreover, the Directive introduces harmonised and mandatory exceptions for making preservation copies by cultural heritage institutions and for text and data mining for scientific research. Finally, the Directive clarifies the status of works of visual art in the public domain with the objective to increase legal certainty. In particular, the new copyright rules will facilitate a core public interest mission of cultural heritage institutions by enhancing the preservation and availability of cultural heritage and by significantly facilitating the use of works that are no longer commercially available for the benefit of European culture and of all citizens. Member States must therefore ensure an effective implementation and application of EU copyright legislation so that cultural heritage institutions can fully benefit from the copyright framework, as updated in particular by Directive (EU) 2019/790.

                  (17)

                  Europeana (17) has been key in strengthening cooperation and standardisation activities across borders, in the EU and beyond. Its standardised frameworks for sharing digital content and metadata online, in particular, the Europeana Data Model (18), Rights Statements (19) and the Europeana Publishing Framework (20) have been taken up widely in the cultural heritage sector in Europe and internationally. For instance, the Europeana Data Model allows a standardised representation of data delivered in Europeana by cultural heritage institutions from different domains using different formats. The RightsStatements.org framework provides a set of standardised rights statements that can be used by cultural heritage institutions to communicate the copyright and reuse status of digital objects to the public. However, interoperability remains a continuous effort in terms of formats and standards for digital content and metadata, such as in the case of 3D or the use of contextual entities and authority files for semantic interoperability. In the Declaration on ‘Cooperation on advancing digitisation of cultural heritage’ of April 2019, Member States agreed to step up their efforts to further develop and promote interoperability standards and frameworks in digitisation initiatives. Member States and cultural heritage institutions should therefore strengthen their efforts to support or adhere to the relevant standards and frameworks in order to accelerate sharing and reuse of data.

                  (18)

                  The creation of a common European data space for cultural heritage will give the cultural heritage institutions the possibility to build on the scale of the single market, in line with the European data strategy (21). It will foster the reuse of content and spur creativity in various sectors, with value for the whole economy and society. In particular, it will provide high quality content and efficient, trusted and easy-to-use access to European digital cultural heritage assets. It will enhance further collaborations, partnerships and engagement with the network of data partners (e.g. museums, galleries, libraries, archives across Europe), aggregators and experts working in the field of digital cultural heritage. The data space will build on the current Europeana strategy for 2020-25 (22), whose aim is to empower cultural heritage institutions in their digital transformation.

                  (19)

                  Europeana currently gives access to 52 million cultural heritage assets, 45 % of which can be reused in various sectors. Images and text make up 97,5 % of the assets, with only 2,47 % audiovisual content and 0,03 % in 3D. Increased contributions of high quality digitised assets, such as in 3D, would enhance innovation and creation through the use and reuse of the digitised cultural heritage assets in various key domains (e.g. education, smart cities and environmental modelling, sustainable tourism and cultural creative sectors). Bringing an additional 40 million, high quality, digitised and diversified types of assets through the data space would add to the richness of the material available online, while further promoting our European cultural heritage. This increase would also allow enhanced reuse and therefore potential new services and applications. It is important that cultural heritage institutions make significant contributions to the data space, with the support of the Member States.

                  (20)

                  National and domain or thematic aggregators have a key role in the cultural heritage landscape, building bridges between the various players within the cultural heritage sector and beyond, at national and European level. For instance, national aggregators aggregate and enrich content for Europeana, give access to and promote the cultural heritage assets of their country and pool valuable resources and knowledge for the cultural heritage sector. However, although most of the aggregators across the EU have an official mandate for their activities, there are still many others needing one and struggling to ensure sufficient and sustainable resources or organisational support. Member States should address this challenge by strengthening the role of the aggregators, providing adequate support and supporting their contribution to the common European data space for cultural heritage.

                  (21)

                  The expected increase in the number and complexity of digital assets will require secure, resilient, efficient and sustainable cloud-based solutions for processing, accessing and managing such data sets. Therefore, Member States’ support (23) for the European federation of cloud-to-edge infrastructure and services will be key for an effective access to digitised cultural heritage assets.

                  (22)

                  This Recommendation builds on and replaces Recommendation 2011/711/EU,

            HAS ADOPTED THIS RECOMMENDATION:
      CHAPTER I

         GENERAL PROVISIONS

         Purpose and scope

                  1.

                  The purpose of this Recommendation is to pave the way for a common European data space for cultural heritage (‘data space’), thereby helping cultural heritage institutions to accelerate their digitisation and preservation efforts, and to seize the opportunities created by the digital transformation. This Recommendation encourages Member States to put in place appropriate frameworks to enhance the sector’s recovery and transformation and to help cultural heritage institutions become more resilient in the future.

                  2.

                  This Recommendation covers all types of cultural heritage (tangible, intangible, natural, born digital), including all the categories of cultural heritage at risk.

         Definitions

                  3.

                  For the purposes of this Recommendation, the following definitions apply:

                              (1)

                              ‘cultural heritage assets’ means assets of:

                                          (a)

                                          tangible cultural heritage, such as monuments, archaeological sites, sound and audiovisual material, books, journals, newspapers, photographs, museum objects, archival documents;

                                          (b)

                                          intangible cultural heritage;

                                          (c)

                                          natural heritage, such as landscapes and natural sites, as defined in Article 2 of the Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage (24);

                                          (d)

                                          born digital heritage;

                              (2)

                              ‘intangible cultural heritage’ means practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage, within the meaning of Article 2 of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (25);

                              (3)

                              ‘born digital’ means assets created in a digital form, such as digital art or animation, virtual museums, without an analogue equivalent, or cultural content created outside cultural heritage institutions, such as on social media or the gaming industry;

                              (4)

                              ‘cultural heritage institution’ means a publicly accessible library or museum, an archive or a film or audio heritage institution, as defined in Article 2, point (3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790;

                              (5)

                              ‘digitisation’ means converting assets from an analogue format to a digital one;

                              (6)

                              ‘digital transformation’ means both the process and the result of leveraging digital technologies to transform how an organisation operates and delivers value;

                              (7)

                              ‘digital preservation’ means a set of activities necessary to make sure digital objects can be located, rendered, used and understood in the future.

            CHAPTER II

         ADVANCED DIGITISATION AND DIGITAL PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

                  4.

                  Member States should provide for and/or regularly update a comprehensive and forward-looking digital strategy for cultural heritage at the relevant national or regional level to accelerate the sector’s digital transformation. Member States should collaborate with or make arrangements for the collaboration of all the concerned stakeholders/parties, such as cultural heritage institutions and competent authorities, to prepare the digital strategy and should provide resources/support for its implementation.

                  5.

                  The national strategy should contain measures to support the cultural heritage institutions in taking up advanced technologies, such as 3D, artificial intelligence, extended reality, cloud computing, data technologies and blockchain, to ensure a more efficient process of digitisation and digital preservation and a higher quality content for a wider access, use and reuse.

                  6.

                  The digital strategy should set clear digitisation and digital preservation goals. Those goals should be based on objective and clear criteria, including:

                              (a)

                              cultural heritage at risk;

                              (b)

                              the most physically visited cultural and heritage monuments, buildings and sites; and

                              (c)

                              the low level of digitisation for specific categories of cultural heritage assets.

                        By 2030, Member States should digitise in 3D all monuments and sites falling under (a) and 50 % of those falling under (b).
                  By 2025, Member States should digitise 40 % of the overall 2030 targets.
                  Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that all digitised cultural assets referred to in point 6(a), (b) and (c) are also digitally preserved.

                  7.

                  When planning digitisation, Member States and cultural heritage institutions should take a holistic approach. Such an approach should, for instance, consider the purpose of the digitisation, the target user groups, the highest quality affordable, the digital preservation of the digitised cultural heritage assets, including aspects such as formats, storage, future migrations, continuing maintenance and the necessary long-term financial and staffing resources. The digital strategy should provide for a clear and well-defined mandate for national or regional aggregators to collaborate with the cultural heritage institutions to make digitised cultural heritage assets available through Europeana and the data space. In particular, Member States should strengthen the role of the aggregators as intermediaries between Europeana and cultural heritage institutions and encourage their active contribution to the data space.

                  8.

                  Member States should support partnerships between the cultural heritage sector and other sectors, such as higher education and vocational education and training, creative industries and sustainable cultural tourism, to stimulate innovation for new services and applications.

                  9.

                  Member States should facilitate the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises to support the digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector, in particular towards digitisation and data-driven innovation.

                  10.

                  Where cultural heritage institutions enter into partnerships with the private sector, they should ensure that clear and fair conditions for reusing the digitised assets are laid down, in line with competition rules and with Directive (EU) 2019/1024, and in particular with the rules on exclusive arrangements laid down in Article 12 of that Directive, where relevant.

                  11.

                  Member States should take the necessary measures to assess the digital skills gap in the sector so that cultural heritage institutions are able to fully exploit the opportunities offered by advanced digital technologies. In particular, Member States should set ambitious objectives to be achieved by 2030 to upskill and reskill cultural heritage professionals, including on data management and analytics, artificial intelligence, advanced digitisation and extended reality technologies.

                  12.

                  In order to facilitate the digital transformation of cultural heritage institutions and to help widen access to and promote cultural heritage, Member States are recommended to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the current copyright framework by:

                              (a)

                              ensuring correct and effective implementation of the relevant EU copyright provisions, in particular those laid down by Directive (EU) 2019/790;

                              (b)

                              accompanying all parties in the efficient practical application of the national implementing rules;

                              (c)

                              closely monitoring national implementing rules in order to guarantee their successful application; and

                              (d)

                              supporting cultural heritage professionals in acquiring copyright and licensing related skills and by providing copyright expertise.

                  13.

                  In order to find shared responses to common challenges to advanced digitisation and preservation and to exchange best practices, to showcase and promote European culture, values and success stories, Member States should encourage cross-border collaboration and partnerships with cultural heritage institutions at international level, in complementarity with the actions promoted by UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

                  14.

                  Member States should make full use of all funding possibilities at European and national level to accelerate the digitisation and preservation efforts.

            CHAPTER III

         GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR A COMMON EUROPEAN DATA SPACE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE

                  15.

                  Cultural heritage institutions should adhere to relevant standards and frameworks, such as those used by the Europeana initiative for sharing digital content and metadata, including the Europeana Data Model, RightsStatements.org, and the Europeana Publishing Framework, to achieve interoperability at European level. Member States should take the necessary measures to promote and facilitate the adherence to such existing and future standards and frameworks and collaborate at the European level to expand them in the context of the data space.

                  16.

                  Member States should actively encourage cultural heritage institutions to make their digitised assets available through Europeana and thus contribute to the data space, in line with the standards and frameworks referred to in point 15 and with the indicative targets provided in Annexes I and II.

                  17.

                  Contributions from cultural heritage institutions, referred to in point 16, should include, in particular, 3D digitised cultural heritage assets to promote European cultural jewels, enhance the potential reuse in important domains such as social sciences and humanities, sustainable cultural tourism, cultural and creative sectors, or help identify cultural goods that are illicitly trafficked.

                  18.

                  Member States should ensure that, as a result of their policies, data resulting from publicly funded digitisation projects become and stay findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (‘FAIR principles’) through digital infrastructures (including the data space) to accelerate data sharing.

                  19.

                  All public funding for future digitisation projects of cultural heritage assets should be made conditional upon making digitised content available in Europeana and the data space, as referred to in point 16.

                  20.

                  Member States should take all the necessary measures to support and raise awareness of Europeana among the general public and particularly in the education sector and schools, including through educational materials.

                  21.

                  Member States should exploit the European federation of cloud-to-edge infrastructure and services in order to scale up the storage, management and access to digitised cultural heritage assets.

            CHAPTER IV

         FOLLOW-UP TO THE RECOMMENDATION

      Member States should inform the Commission 24 months from the publication of this Recommendation in the Official Journal of the European Union, and every 2 years thereafter, of actions taken in response to the Recommendation.

         Done at Brussels, 10 November 2021.

               For the Commission

            Thierry BRETON

               Member of the Commission

         (1)  COM(2021) 118 final.

         (2)  UNWTO report on Tourism and Culture Synergies.

         (3)  SWD/2021/351 final.

         (4)  SWD(2021) 15 final.

         (5)  COM(2019) 640 final.

         (6)  Including 2D digitisation.

         (7)  https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/eu-member-states-sign-cooperate-digitising-cultural-heritage

         (8)  https://ec.europa.eu/info/horizon-europe_en

         (9)  https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/2021_2027/

         (10)  https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/newsroom/coronavirus-response/react-eu

         (11)  https://ec.europa.eu/info/overview-funding-programmes/technical-support-instrument-tsi_en

         (12)  https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en

         (13)  Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the reuse of public sector information (OJ L 172, 26.6.2019, p. 56).

         (14)  COM(2020) 274 final.

         (15)  COM(2021) 102 final.

         (16)  Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC (OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 92).

         (17)  COM(2018) 612 final.

         (18)  https://pro.europeana.eu/page/edm-documentation

         (19)  https://rightsstatements.org/

         (20)  https://pro.europeana.eu/post/publishing-framework

         (21)  COM(2020) 66 final.

         (22)  https://op.europa.eu/s/pjHV

         (23)  https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/towards-next-generation-cloud-europe

         (24)  UNESCO Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage, Paris, 16 November 1972.

         (25)  UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003, Paris, 17 October 2003.

         ANNEX I
         Indicative targets for content contribution to Europeana and the data space by 2030 per Member State (1)

                     A

                     B

                     C

                     D

                     E

                     F

                     Number of records on 1 February 2021

                     Number of high quality records (2) on 1 February 2021

                     New high quality records by 2030

                     Total number of records by 2030
                     [= A+C]

                     Total number of high quality records by 2030 (3)

                     [=B+C]

                     3D digital assets by 2030 (4)

                        Austria

                     2 372 357

                     1 106 942

                     1 002 892

                     3 375 249

                     2 109 834

                     401 157

                        Belgium

                     2 499 646

                     2 247 432

                     1 215 817

                     3 715 463

                     3 463 249

                     486 327

                        Bulgaria

                     94 447

                     62 647

                     329 454

                     423 901

                     392 101

                     131 782

                        Croatia

                     67 357

                     5 456

                     235 877

                     303 234

                     241 332

                     94 351

                        Cyprus

                     30 959

                     1 858

                     71 466

                     102 425

                     73 324

                     28 586

                        Czechia

                     881 263

                     369 602

                     889 329

                     1 770 592

                     1 258 931

                     355 732

                        Denmark

                     1 032 422

                     662 712

                     676 884

                     1 709 306

                     1 339 596

                     270 754

                        Estonia

                     648 205

                     486 024

                     99 825

                     748 030

                     585 849

                     39 930

                        Finland

                     1 093 297

                     960 899

                     548 428

                     1 641 725

                     1 509 327

                     219 371

                        France

                     3 860 232

                     1 779 567

                     6 381 064

                     10 241 296

                     8 160 631

                     2 552 426

                        Germany

                     5 536 786

                     4 107 742

                     8 924 266

                     14 461 052

                     13 032 008

                     3 569 707

                        Greece

                     661 593

                     383 327

                     642 175

                     1 303 768

                     1 025 502

                     256 870

                        Hungary

                     732 033

                     571 425

                     637 732

                     1 369 765

                     1 209 157

                     255 093

                        Ireland

                     86 765

                     44 424

                     856 780

                     943 545

                     901 204

                     342 712

                        Italy

                     2 150 207

                     687 421

                     5 119 900

                     7 270 107

                     5 807 321

                     2 047 960

                        Latvia

                     128 505

                     113 341

                     117 705

                     246 210

                     231 046

                     47 082

                        Lithuania

                     224 359

                     182 337

                     209 875

                     434 234

                     392 212

                     83 950

                        Luxembourg

                     65 600

                     1 325

                     145 567

                     211 167

                     146 893

                     58 227

                        Malta

                     50 310

                     1 006

                     46 013

                     96 323

                     47 019

                     18 405

                        Netherlands

                     9 126 499

                     7 554 003

                     1 992 463

                     11 118 962

                     9 546 466

                     796 985

                        Poland

                     3 040 221

                     936 996

                     2 477 819

                     5 518 040

                     3 414 815

                     991 127

                        Portugal

                     203 044

                     138 963

                     727 333

                     930 377

                     866 297

                     290 933

                        Romania

                     135 213

                     84 549

                     1 209 889

                     1 345 102

                     1 294 438

                     483 956

                        Slovakia

                     15 106

                     453

                     341 636

                     356 742

                     342 089

                     136 654

                        Slovenia

                     598 310

                     382 081

                     166 799

                     765 109

                     548 880

                     66 720

                        Spain

                     2 960 596

                     1 228 351

                     3 851 622

                     6 812 218

                     5 079 973

                     1 540 649

                        Sweden

                     4 307 321

                     3 047 430

                     1 098 975

                     5 406 296

                     4 146 404

                     439 590

                        EU 27

                        42 602 653

                        27 148 311

                        40 017 586

                        82 620 239

                        67 165 896

                        16 007 034

            (1)  The indicative targets per Member State are proportional to the population of each Member State, adjusted to the Member State’s GDP per capita (in PPS).

            (2)  High quality records adhere to the requirements of Tier 2 or above (Tier 2+) of the Europeana Publishing Framework for content, and to the requirements of Tier A or above for metadata. These standards are required to foster reuse for various purpose.

            (3)  Member States are encouraged to improve the quality of Tier 1 records, therefore the total number of high quality records may increase further.

            (4)  40% of the new records should be for 3D digital assets. The number of 3D digital assets currently available in Europeana is considered negligible.

         ANNEX II
         Intermediate targets for content contribution to Europeana and the data space by 2025 per Member State

                     A

                     B

                     C

                     D

                     E

                     F

                     Number of records on 1 February 2021

                     Number of high quality records (1) on 1 February 2021

                     New records by 2025 (2)

                     Total number of records by 2025
                     [= A+C]

                     Total number of high quality records by 2025 (3)

                     [=B+C]

                     Assets in 3D by 2025 (4)

                        Austria

                     2 372 357

                     1 106 942

                     401 157

                     2 773 514

                     1 508 099

                     60 174

                        Belgium

                     2 499 646

                     2 247 432

                     486 327

                     2 985 973

                     2 733 759

                     72 949

                        Bulgaria

                     94 447

                     62 647

                     131 782

                     226 229

                     194 428

                     19 767

                        Croatia

                     67 357

                     5 456

                     94 351

                     161 708

                     99 807

                     14 153

                        Cyprus

                     30 959

                     1 858

                     28 586

                     59 545

                     30 444

                     4 288

                        Czechia

                     881 263

                     369 602

                     355 732

                     1 236 995

                     725 333

                     53 360

                        Denmark

                     1 032 422

                     662 712

                     270 754

                     1 303 176

                     933 465

                     40 613

                        Estonia

                     648 205

                     486 024

                     39 930

                     688 135

                     525 954

                     5 989

                        Finland

                     1 093 297

                     960 899

                     219 371

                     1 312 668

                     1 180 270

                     32 906

                        France

                     3 860 232

                     1 779 567

                     2 552 426

                     6 412 658

                     4 331 993

                     382 864

                        Germany

                     5 536 786

                     4 107 742

                     3 569 707

                     9 106 493

                     7 677 448

                     535 456

                        Greece

                     661 593

                     383 327

                     256 870

                     918 463

                     640 197

                     38 530

                        Hungary

                     732 033

                     571 425

                     255 093

                     987 126

                     826 518

                     38 264

                        Ireland

                     86 765

                     44 424

                     342 712

                     429 477

                     387 136

                     51 407

                        Italy

                     2 150 207

                     687 421

                     2 047 960

                     4 198 167

                     2 735 381

                     307 194

                        Latvia

                     128 505

                     113 341

                     47 082

                     175 587

                     160 423

                     7 062

                        Lithuania

                     224 359

                     182 337

                     83 950

                     308 309

                     266 287

                     12 593

                        Luxembourg

                     65 600

                     1 325

                     58 227

                     123 827

                     59 552

                     8 734

                        Malta

                     50 310

                     1 006

                     18 405

                     68 715

                     19 411

                     2 761

                        Netherlands

                     9 126 499

                     7 554 003

                     796 985

                     9 923 484

                     8 350 988

                     119 548

                        Poland

                     3 040 221

                     936 996

                     991 127

                     4 031 348

                     1 928 124

                     148 669

                        Portugal

                     203 044

                     138 963

                     290 933

                     493 977

                     429 897

                     43 640

                        Romania

                     135 213

                     84 549

                     483 956

                     619 169

                     568 504

                     72 593

                        Slovakia

                     15 106

                     453

                     136 654

                     151 760

                     137 107

                     20 498

                        Slovenia

                     598 310

                     382 081

                     66 720

                     665 030

                     448 800

                     10 008

                        Spain

                     2 960 596

                     1 228 351

                     1 540 649

                     4 501 245

                     2 769 000

                     231 097

                        Sweden

                     4 307 321

                     3 047 430

                     439 590

                     4 746 911

                     3 487 019

                     65 938

                        EU 27

                        42 602 653

                        27 148 311

                        16 007 034

                        58 609 687

                        43 155 345

                        2 401 055

            (1)  High quality records adhere to the requirements of Tier 2 or above (Tier 2+) of the Europeana Publishing Framework for content, and to the requirements of Tier A or above for metadata. These standards are required to foster reuse for various purpose.

            (2)  Intermediate target: 40 % of indicative targets by 2030.

            (3)  Member States are encouraged to improve the quality of Tier 1 records, therefore the total number of high quality records may increase further.

            (4)  Intermediate target for 3D digital assets: 15 % of 2030 targets.


title: Council Recommendation of 16 November 2021 concerning the sequencing of the fulfilment of the more binding commitments undertaken in the framework of permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and specifying more precise objectives, and repealing the Recommendation of 15 October 2018 2021/C 464/01

text:
               17.11.2021

               EN

               Official Journal of the European Union

               C 464/1

      COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION
      of 16 November 2021
      concerning the sequencing of the fulfilment of the more binding commitments undertaken in the framework of permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and specifying more precise objectives, and repealing the Recommendation of 15 October 2018
      (2021/C 464/01)
      THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
      Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 46(6) thereof,
      Having regard to Protocol No 10 on permanent structured cooperation established by Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
      Having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 of 11 December 2017 establishing permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and determining the list of participating Member States (1),
      Having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
      Whereas:

                  (1)

                  Article 4(2), point (b), of Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 provides that the Council is to adopt decisions and recommendations on sequencing the fulfilment of the more binding commitments set out in the Annex to that Decision in the course of the two consecutive initial phases (the years 2018–2020 and 2021–2025) and specifying at the beginning of each phase the more precise objectives for the fulfilment of the more binding commitments.

                  (2)

                  On 15 October 2018, the Council adopted a Recommendation (the ‘Recommendation of 15 October 2018’) concerning the sequencing of the fulfilment of the more binding commitments undertaken in the framework of PESCO and specifying more precise objectives (2) for the phases 2018-2020 and 2021-2025.
                  In accordance with paragraphs 4 and 27 of the Recommendation of 15 October 2018, the Council should adopt a second set of more precise objectives for the phase 2021–2025. As specified in the Council Conclusions of 20 November 2020 on the PESCO Strategic Review (PSR) 2020, the Council should review that Recommendation at the beginning of the next phase in 2021 with a view to setting the objectives and concrete deliverables for the next PESCO phase 2021-2025 in line with the PSR.

                  (3)

                  In the light of the Conclusions of 20 November 2020, the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) findings and recommendations should be used to inform the objectives and concrete deliverables for the next PESCO phase (2021-2025).

                  (4)

                  In accordance with Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1639 (3), a third State may exceptionally be invited to participate in a PESCO project, and provide a substantial added value to the project and contribute to the strengthening of PESCO and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and meeting more binding commitments.

                  (5)

                  The Council should therefore adopt another recommendation and repeal the Recommendation of 15 October 2018,

            HAS ADOPTED THIS RECOMMENDATION:
      I.   Objective and scope

                  1.

                  In the light of the Council Conclusions of 20 November 2020 on the PSR, the overall aim for the second initial phase until 2025 will be to fulfil the more binding commitments which participating Member States made to one another, including by working towards a coherent full-spectrum force package, in line with the PESCO notification (4), that contributes to the fulfilment of the EU Level of Ambition. Such a coherent full-spectrum force package should be further elaborated by Member States in the context of the Strategic Compass. (5)

                  2.

                  The objective of this Recommendation is to ensure a common approach and to enable the participating Member States to fulfil the more binding commitments set out in the Annex to Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315. It is to facilitate the annual assessment process set out in Article 6 of that Decision, based on a complete set of relevant data including roadmaps. In order to assist participating Member States in planning to fulfil the more binding commitments and facilitating the assessment of the progress of PESCO in the report of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (the ‘High Representative’), this Recommendation includes intermediate objectives, milestones, with related progress indicators, including for operational commitments in order to provide a fair share to the respective force generation for CSDP missions and operations, within Member States’ means and capabilities. Those data should be provided annually by the participating Member States in their national implementation plans (NIPs), reviewed and updated, as appropriate, in accordance with Article 3(2) of that Decision. The security rules set out in Council Decision 2013/488/EU (6) should also be applied to the NIPs and other relevant documents based on the information contained therein. The participating Member States should, supported by the PESCO secretariat, ensure transparency among all participating Member States and further develop coherence and consistency in relation to the information required and provided in the context of PESCO and other defence-related initiatives, including CARD. Coherence between various defence-related initiatives should be further developed and strengthened, including as regards Member States’ reporting, in order to alleviate the administrative burden and improve the quality of the NIPs. That work should take into account the lessons identified at the end of the first PESCO initial phase (2018–2020), in particular through the related strategic review process.

                  3.

                  In accordance with the commitments set out in the Annex to Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315, and without altering them or introducing new commitments, this Recommendation provides guidance on the sequencing of the fulfilment of those commitments for the phase 2021–2025, and specifies more precise objectives for each commitment, highlighting that participating Member States should implement those commitments as soon as possible, in particular those which were to be fulfilled by 2020.

                  4.

                  The more precise objectives referred to in Section II, which also include progress indicators, where applicable, for specific commitments, will enable participating Member States to plan for the fulfilment of the more binding commitments in a structured and transparent manner and to provide detailed and assessable information on progress achieved on the fulfilment of each commitment in their NIPs. Regular exchanges between participating Member States in the relevant Council preparatory bodies, as referred to in the PSR, should be ensured, in particular on the areas in which efforts have to be maintained or enhanced.

                  5.

                  The aim is to adapt the existing more precise objectives based on the experience gained from the first initial phase in order to help participating Member States to better achieve concrete deliverables and to facilitate implementation with regard to the fulfilment of the more binding commitments as soon as possible, and by the end of 2025. Particular attention should be given to the areas where improvements are needed, including at project level in line with the Conclusions on the PSR and to ensure continuous progress beyond the two consecutive initial phases (the years 2018-2020 and 2021-2025). At the end of the two consecutive initial phases in 2025, the Council will conduct a strategic review process assessing the fulfilment of the PESCO more binding commitments set out in Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 by each participating Member State and will update, and enhance if necessary, those commitments in light of achievements made through PESCO, in order to reflect the Union’s evolving security environment, its operational needs, as well as Member States’ and the Union’s capability development priorities. In that context, at the beginning of 2026, following the strategic review process outlined above, the Council should adopt a third set of more precise objectives, updated, and enhanced if necessary, taking into account Article 4(2), point (c) of Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315.

            II.   Sequencing of the fulfilment of the commitments by specifying more precise objectives
      Commitments 1 to 5

                  6.

                  Commitment 1: Participating Member States should provide in their NIPs precise financial data on the evolution of total defence expenditure compared to the previous year in real terms (7), including in absolute figures, demonstrating a plan for a regular increase in spending. In this regard, participating Member States should also provide in their NIPs their nationally agreed spending projections for the coming years. Those participating Member States which are also members of NATO and are spending at or above the relevant NATO guideline on defence expenditure, should provide an indication of their plans to maintain or change that level of defence spending. Within the context of their NIPs, working towards, maintaining or exceeding the current relevant NATO guideline for defence expenditure (8) will be considered as demonstrating a positive trend in fulfilling this more binding commitment. On the basis of the information provided in the NIPs, the annual report of the High Representative will also provide a detailed overview of the evolution of the defence spending by participating Member States, in accordance with Article 6(3) of Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315.

                  7.

                  Commitment 2: Participating Member States should each provide precise financial data in their NIPs on how they intend to contribute to the collective 20 % benchmark (9) on defence investment. That information should provide the forecast of increase compared to the previous year in real terms, as a percentage of the total defence budget. The figures provided should comprise investments for defence procurement and research and development (R&D). Those participating Member States which are already spending at or above the level of the (collective) benchmark should provide an indication of their plans to maintain or change that level of spending.

                  8.

                  Commitment 3: Participating Member States should provide detailed information in their NIPs on how and by which means they seek to increase the number, size and impact of joint and collaborative strategic defence capability projects, also mentioning budgetary figures and the specific projects which benefit or have benefited from Union financial assistance. In this regard, the participating Member States should each provide precise financial data on how they plan to contribute to achieving in real terms the European collaborative equipment procurement collective benchmark – 35 % of total equipment spending – and the European collaborative defence research and technology (R&T) collective benchmark – 20 % of total defence R&T spending. Those participating Member States which are already spending at those levels should provide an indication of their plans to maintain or change those levels of spending.

                  9.

                  Commitment 4: In order to assist the monitoring of actual year-to-year progress, participating Member States should each clearly provide in their NIPs precise financial data on how they will contribute, with a view to nearing the 2 % of total defence spending (collective benchmark) as a share of total defence expenditure for defence R&T, including expenditure forecasts.

                  10.

                  Commitment 5: Participating Member States are encouraged to use their NIPs every year to share their experience in terms of planning and contributing to the fulfilment of the commitments 1 to 4 in light of the more precise objectives set out above. At the end of 2025, a review of those commitments will be conducted, based on the spending data provided in the NIPs, with a view to adapting the indicators and objectives for those commitments as necessary, for endorsement by the Council.

            Commitments 6 to 11

                  11.

                  Commitment 6: By 2025, participating Member States will have progressed in systematically considering and making the best use of the Union’s capability development tools and initiatives, such as the Capability Development Plan (CDP) and the CARD, to inform and make their national decision-making, priority-setting and defence planning more coherent, which ensure coherence of output with respective NATO processes, where requirements overlap, while recognising the different nature of the two organisations and their respective responsibilities and memberships. That would entail for the Member States to highlight their substantial role in capability development within the Union including by indicating the preferred areas for the development of collaborative defence capability activities within the Union with a reference to the CARD findings and recommendations. To that effect, participating Member States should indicate in their NIPs how they implement the Union’s Capability Development Priorities derived from the CDP, including through national priority-setting, and outline their plans and objectives on the respective priorities to be achieved in the coming years.

                  12.

                  Commitment 7: Annually, each participating Member State should indicate in their NIPs how they have made the best use of the Union’s available tools and processes and how they plan to proceed in this endeavour. This comprises support for the CARD process, including through providing all relevant information requested, conducting CARD bilateral dialogues and sharing the outcomes of the national defence reviews, whenever possible. The participating Member States should include in their NIPs information on how they have implemented and/or plan to use the actionable recommendations provided in the agreed CARD Reports.

                  13.

                  Commitment 8: On an annual basis, participating Member States will make the best possible use of the European Defence Fund in support of their collaborative capability development projects. In their NIPs, participating Member States should indicate for which EU Capability Development Priorities agreed under the CDP and CARD Focus Areas EU financial assistance has been received, or could be sought in the future and, to the extent possible, the share of national defence investment they have committed or plan to commit to those collaborative projects. In their NIPs, participating Member States should indicate the usability and added value of the EU funding to the national defence capability development efforts. Also, by the end of 2025, participating Member States should indicate their intention to ensure follow-up to the results of both the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (2017–2019), the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) (2019–2020) and the European Defence Fund for collaborative projects with an identified EU added value.

                  14.

                  Commitment 9: Participating Member States should list the relevant ongoing collaborative capability development projects in line with the CDP in PESCO, as well as in other frameworks, and indicate the planned start and completion of the harmonisation of requirements. The foreseen start of harmonising capability requirements should also be indicated for the planned and intended projects. That should be done for the coming years, in particular focusing on closing capability gaps identified through the CDP and taking CARD into account.

                  15.

                  Commitment 10: Participating Member States should map in their NIPs those capabilities and facilities that they have planned to make available and provide for joint use by other participating Member States, with specific examples such as training and education, exercises, military bases and logistic support, indicating those which are also available in the case of operations. Participating Member States could also map in their NIPs which capabilities, including infrastructure offered by other participating Member States, could provide a basis for cooperation. The NIPs should indicate how such cooperation could optimise available resources and improve their overall effectiveness, including by providing, when available, information on potential savings. The participating Member States should use the Collaborative Database (CODABA), in particular to support them in sharing information on their relevant defence plans and interests in this respect. Participating Member States should provide regular inputs to it and report accordingly in their NIPs on having done so.

                  16.

                  Commitment 11: Participating Member States should indicate in their NIPs how they are going to increase cooperation on cyber defence, including through existing initiatives or new collaborative activities. In their NIPs, they should indicate how they plan to maintain or further increase, by 2025, the level of their participation in multinational cyber exercises and their cooperation, including in the framework of EDA and the European Security and Defence College (ESDC). Also, by 2025, participating Member States should indicate how they intend to establish regular cooperation with other participating Member States on cyber defence and related activities, such as information sharing, training and operational support, but also capability development. Information from the NIPs on the cooperation on cyber defence of participating Member States and their contribution to cyber defence and related activities, including capability development, will be included in the High Representative’s Annual Report on the Status of PESCO Implementation as an annex.

            Commitments 12 to 14

                  17.

                  Commitment 12: By 2025, participating Member States should:

                              (a)

                              sub-commitment 12.1:

                                          —

                                          contribute to the EU Force Catalogue with all deployable national capabilities that correspond with the requirements of the latest EU Requirements Catalogue towards a coherent EU full-spectrum force package (EU FSFP) in line with the PESCO notification (10), building on the EU Force Package defined in the Progress Catalogue (11). In accordance with the single set of forces principle, participating Member States’ inputs should be in line with the Headline Goal Process (HLGP) instructions and should include all deployable assets (including headquarters and capabilities usable in support of missions and operations). Participating Member States should report these inputs in their NIPs;

                                          —

                                          focus on the future availability of capabilities needed for the fulfilment of the High Impact Capability Goals (HICGs), optimising the planned contributions to the EU Force Catalogue for the short and medium term. Emphasis should be given to the fulfilment of all short-term HICGs. Their planning efforts will be measured through the HLGP. Participating Member States should report these planning efforts in their NIPs;

                              (b)

                              sub-commitment 12.2: in accordance with the EU Military Rapid Response Concept, complete the Rapid Response Database (RRDB), to enable it to be a useful military planning tool to contribute to the fulfilment of the EU level of ambition. In contributing to the RRDB, and without prejudice to any constitutional requirements with regard to deployment decisions, participating Member States will signal their potential contribution of rapidly deployable formations, capabilities and relevant supporting infrastructure which could be rapidly deployed or utilised in a military CSDP mission or operation in support of the EU level of ambition. To that end, each participating Member State should update in the RRDB the list of its available military formations and capabilities ahead of the annual Military Rapid Response Coordination Conference. That comprises updating or completing the land, maritime and air databases, and includes an indication of the level of readiness for capabilities and forces, where applicable. Without prejudice to classification requirements, that part of the RRDB should be accessible to participating Member States so as to support the ability to make an initial assessment regarding the possibility to launch a military CSDP mission or operation. In this regard, a projection of formations and capabilities based on a requirements analysis which is derived from the illustrative scenarios would allow the participating Member States to contribute to the RRDB in a more accurate way. Participating Member States should reflect their contributions to this database in their NIPs;

                              (c)

                              sub-commitment 12.3: have assessed the feasibility of a fast-tracked political commitment at national level, whilst respecting their constitutional requirements, including through a possible review, if not already done, of their national decision-making procedure, with a view to making improvements. If applicable, the exercising of decision-making procedures in rapid-response scenarios through POLEX-type exercises, and relevant findings, should also be reflected in the NIPs;

                              (d)

                              sub-commitment 12.4:

                                          —

                                          have provided substantial support within their means and capabilities to CSDP military missions and operations aiming at filling the statements of requirement (SORs) and thus complying with the agreed level of ambition for the CSDP missions and operations. To this end, participating Member States are to provide a fair share to force generation, the parameters of which should be defined by them as soon as possible and by the summer of 2022 at the latest;

                                          —

                                          these contributions to the CSDP military missions and operations, portrayed in a table, will be included in the High Representative’s annual report on PESCO implementation as an annex and should be positively highlighted. Participating Member States should report annually in their NIPs their contributions to fulfilling the SORs for the CSDP military operations and missions, aiming at maintaining or increasing these contributions, thus providing a fair share to the force generation for CSDP missions and operations;

                                          —

                                          in this process, participating Member States could refer to their national and international engagements that contribute to European and international peace and security;

                                          —

                                          these elements should increase the transparency of participating Member States’ efforts, with a view to recognising substantial contributions. They should also be used to encourage and support Member States to increase their contributions, within their means and capabilities, to CSDP missions and operations. For this purpose, recommendations would be provided and the implementation of these recommendations would be regularly reviewed, including at the political level.

                              (e)

                              sub-commitment 12.5: confirm their substantial and recurring contributions to the EU Battlegroups (EU BGs), in principle at least four years in advance, and prepare and train their contributing forces and capabilities in accordance with the EU BG Concept and the EU BG Preparation Guide. To this end, participating Member States should contribute as soon as possible to filling the EU BG Roster and reflecting their contributions in their NIPs. The contributions of each participating Member State to the EU BG Roster covering a five-year period will be included in the High Representative’s annual report on PESCO implementation as an annex;

                              (f)

                              sub-commitment 12.6: have made a tangible contribution towards the implementation of the EU Action Plan on military mobility and the PESCO projects in that area, subject to national sovereignty, decision-making, laws and regulations, including by taking forward the four measures at national level as agreed in the Council conclusions of 25 June 2018 on security and defence. To this end, as stated in paragraph 18 of those conclusions, participating Member States should develop national plans on military mobility implementation; granting the Cross Border Movement Permission (CBMP) and the Diplomatic Clearance (DIC) within five working days and considering bringing this period down further for rapid reaction units; establish a strong interconnected network of NPOCs including their Terms of Reference (ToRs); and practice military mobility in national and/or multinational exercises, as soon as possible, but no later than 2024. Those participating Member States that have not yet developed national plans for military mobility implementation should do so immediately and provide those national contributions via the common workspace and further reflect them in the NIPs. Participating Member States’ efforts in this regard should be included in the High Representative’s Annual Report on PESCO implementation as an annex.

                  18.

                  Commitment 13. In the area of interoperability of forces, participating Member States should:

                              (a)

                              sub-commitment 13.1:

                                          —

                                          use the EU BG Preparation Guide, including the common evaluation and validation criteria for the EU BG force package, which are aligned with NATO standards, while maintaining national certification. In their NIPs, participating Member States should state how they train and certify their forces, for example, by developing an EU BG exercise programme for the preparation phase and by executing a final live exercise (LIVEX) as part of the BG certification package;

                                          —

                                          specify in their NIPs how they intend to implement common technical and operational standards to be utilised by forces of all the participating Member States, while acknowledging the need to ensure interoperability and coherence between the Union and NATO and ensuring that appropriate prerequisites for maximum interoperability need to be in place to enable all participating Member States to fulfil their commitments;

                              (b)

                              sub-commitment 13.2: indicate in their NIPs their current participation or their efforts to participate, and the intention to enhance, where possible, their participation in and contribution to the European multinational structures, in particular those available to the Union. Contributions of participating Member States to the European multinational structures will be included in the High Representative’s annual report on PESCO implementation as an annex.

                  19.

                  Commitment 14:

                              —

                              in line with Article 75(1) on the review of Council Decision (CFSP) 2021/509 (12) establishing a European Peace Facility,, participating Member States should engage to consider, identify and are encouraged to propose, options and possibilities for the development of an ambitious approach to common funding of military CSDP operations and missions, beyond what is defined as common cost in accordance with Decision (CFSP) 2021/509. In this regard, participating Member States are invited to take stock of the costs for which special funding eligibility has been requested during the year on an ad-hoc basis, and/or costs that could be proposed from a national point of view, as also potentially eligible for common funding. In line with the review clause provided for in Decision (CFSP) 2021/509, whether in the context of the planned triennial reviews of that Decision, or at the request of a Member State, participating Member States are invited to jointly and duly consider these proposals within the EPF Committee to inform the subsequent discussion in the Council on the possible changes to the list of common costs;

                              —

                              furthermore, participating Member States are also invited to include in their proposals potential additional ways of contributing to the financing of the costs of the CSDP military operations and missions. Participating Member States are encouraged to include in their NIPs their findings regarding both aspects;

                              —

                              in addition, a more systematic use of the existing financial incentives (e.g. the VAT exemption for ad hoc projects in the EDA) in support of defence cooperation, including for CSDP military missions and operations could be explored.

            Commitments 15 to 17

                  20.

                  Commitment 15: By 2025, participating Member States should have increased the number and volume of their capability development projects, and should also have progressed on their implementation, which contributes to filling those capability gaps identified in the CDP (including in HICGs) and described in the Union’s Capability Development Priorities, including in the related Strategic Context Cases (SCC) and by using CARD findings and recommendations, including the collaborative opportunities identified, in particular the Focus Areas. In this context, further attention is required from participating Member States on collaboration in the following areas: countering hybrid threats, climate change, energy security, maritime security, space-related aspects, and emerging and disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence. Participating Member States should provide their plans for the coming years by describing the number and estimated volume of their collaborative projects in financial terms, and provide information about their national projects which help to overcome capability shortcomings identified under the CDP. Participating Member States should also share their assessment of the importance of those projects for an improved strategic autonomy of the Union and a more integrated, sustainable, innovative and competitive European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), which remains open for cooperation. For those activities which have an industrial or technology dimension, participating Member States should state which type of European industrial sector or technology they plan to strengthen.

                  21.

                  Commitment 16: Participating Member States should reflect in their NIPs appropriate decisions and steps taken at the national level in order to further consider as a priority a European collaborative approach for future projects to close capability gaps identified at national level. Active use of CODABA, as well as collaborative opportunities identified by CARD and in particular the Focus Areas, could facilitate the fulfilment of that commitment. Participating Member States should list in their NIPs collaborative projects and multinational activities which they envisage will close shortcomings identified at national level, and share plans on how they intend to increase the use of the collaborative approaches in this respect.

                  22.

                  Commitment 17: As all participating Member States are contributing to one or more PESCO projects, the NIPs should provide information on their overall contribution in resources and expertise over time to PESCO projects and how those projects strategically impact the Union and the participating Member States’ defence capability landscape. This could also reflect the roles that participating Member States intend to assume in capability development in a European context.

            Commitments 18 to 20:

                  23.

                  Commitment 18: Throughout the PESCO phase 2021-2025, participating Member States should ensure they make the best use of the EDA as the European forum for joint capability development. To that end, the participating Member States should indicate in their NIPs in which projects they participate, and indicate the associated financial volume channelled through the EDA, taking the figures of 2020 as a baseline, keeping a three-year outlook as a minimum standard for every NIP update, and listing the intended activities for the following years, including the capability domains and type of activity planned in accordance with national legislation. Participating Member States are invited to indicate in their NIPs how and in what situations they consider the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) to be the preferred collaborative programme managing organisation, and to provide information on the decisions taken for the selection of another multinational programme managing organisation if appropriate, while having considered OCCAR as an option. This does not prejudge the application of Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (13).

                  24.

                  Commitment 19: Throughout the PESCO phase 2021-2025, participating Member States should demonstrate that their collaborative capability projects, including PESCO projects, contribute to fostering the competitiveness, efficiency and innovation of the defence industry throughout the Union, by supporting and enabling cross border cooperation, including for SMEs, as well as strengthening and improving the security of supply for defence products and technologies. Participating Member States, in line with the Statement of the Members of the European Council of 26 February 2021, would also aim at boosting research, technology development and innovation and reducing European strategic dependencies in critical technologies and value chains, without prejudice to national decision-making procedures.

                              (a)

                              The NIPs should specify how an appropriate industrial policy, if in place, guides the development of collaborative capability development projects to avoid unnecessary overlap, with indications on the industrial areas strengthened and those areas in which overlaps were prevented.

                              (b)

                              Participating Member States will report on their cooperative programmes benefitting from Union co-funding under the EDIDP and/or EDF in accordance with commitments 3 and 8.

                  25.

                  Commitment 20:

                              (a)

                              Throughout the PESCO phase 2021-2025, participating Member States should demonstrate that their cooperation programmes benefit entities which provide added value on Union territory (e.g. aspects related to generated results and intellectual property rights, technological improvements, and the creation of market opportunities). In accordance with Article 7(5) of Decision (CFSP) 2020/1639, the NIPs should provide indications, as appropriate, of the relevant entities benefitting from cooperative programmes and the related impact on the EDTIB.

                              (b)

                              Participating Member States, will, in line with Directive 2009/81/EC, demonstrate that the acquisition strategies they have implemented from 2021 to 2025 have a positive impact on the EDTIB. This could be indicated by listing the absolute volume of the defence investment and the relative share which is allocated to solutions developed and produced within the Union. In particular, NIPs should provide information on capability and technology areas as agreed in the CDP, and acquisition strategy in relation to capability projects that have an industrial dimension.

            III.   Way forward

                  26.

                  Following the adoption of this Recommendation, participating Member States will review and update their NIPs accordingly and communicate them to the PESCO secretariat by 10 March 2022, and annually thereafter by the same date in accordance with Article 3(2) of Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315, in view of the assessment process set out in Article 6(3) of that Decision. Every other year, the NIPs should be accompanied by a high-level political statement in which participating Member States could outline main achievements and state specific national priorities and share their experience in terms of planning and contributions to the fulfilment of all more binding commitments. Regular high-level political discussions between the participating Member States and the High Representative should continue to ensure political momentum.

                  27.

                  Bearing in mind the PESCO notification, which also recalls the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States, and taking into account the outcome of the Strategic Compass, participating Member States, in the context of the strategic review process to be conducted by the end of 2025 at the latest, will assess the fulfilment of all PESCO commitments, discuss and decide on new commitments, with a view to embarking on a new stage towards European security and defence integration. In line with the outcome of the strategic review process, in the beginning of 2026, the Council should adopt a third set of more precise objectives, updated, and enhanced if necessary, taking into account Article 4(2) point (c) of Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315.

                  28.

                  The High Representative should take this Recommendation into account in the annual report on PESCO from 2022 onwards, which will support the assessment of the fulfilment of the more binding commitments by each participating Member State.

                  29.

                  The Recommendation of 15 October 2018 is hereby repealed.

         Done at Brussels, 16 November 2021.

               For the Council

               The President

            J. BORRELL FONTELLES

         (1)  OJ L 331, 14.12.2017, p. 57.

         (2)  OJ C 374, 16.10.2018, p. 1.

         (3)  Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1639 of 5 November 2020 establishing the general conditions under which third States could exceptionally be invited to participate in individual PESCO projects (OJ L 371, 6.11.2020, p. 3).

         (4)  In particular, Annex I-Principles of PESCO.

         (5)  As stated in the Council Conclusions on Security and Defence of 17th June 2020, ‘building on the threat analysis and other possible thematic input, the Strategic Compass will define policy orientations and specific goals and objectives’.

         (6)  Council Decision 2013/488/EU of 23 September 2013 on the security rules for protecting EU classified information (OJ L 274, 15.10.2013, p. 1).

         (7)  In accordance with the European Defence Agency (EDA) list of definitions of defence data (EDA201807105).

         (8)  The 2 % of GDP, according to the current relevant NATO guideline on defence expenditure, applies solely to those participating Member States which are also members of NATO, and it does not constitute an agreed PESCO objective.

         (9)  In November 2007, the EDA Ministerial Steering Board approved four collective benchmarks for investment: 20 % of total defence spending for equipment procurement (including R&D/R&T); 35 % of total equipment spending for European collaborative equipment procurement; 2 % of total defence spending for defence Research and Technology (R&T); 20 % of total defence R&T spending for European collaborative defence R&T.

         (10)  In particular Annex I - Principles of PESCO.

         (11)  The purpose of the HLGP, and in particular of the Force Catalogue, is to gain a complete understanding of the forces potentially available for CSDP missions and operations and their related capabilities, without any prejudice to or link to force generation processes serving CSDP missions and operations.

         (12)  Council Decision (CFSP) 2021/509 of 22 March 2021 establishing a European Peace Facility, and repealing Decision (CFSP) 2015/528 (OJ L 102, 24.3.2021, p. 14).

         (13)  Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of procedures for the award of certain works contracts, supply contracts and service contracts by contracting authorities or entities in the fields of defence and security, and amending Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC (OJ L 216, 20.8.2009, p. 76).