Dear Mr Henrion 

PROPOSED INSPIRE DIRECTIVE AND GEODATA

Thank you for your letter of 21 August 2006 to the Minister of State for the Environment, Ian Pearson, regarding the proposed INSPIRE Directive on establishing a European Spatial Data Infrastructure. I have been asked to reply.

 

The UK supports the aspirations of INSPIRE and wishes to maintain the Council Common Position, as we believe it represents a workable compromise that will deliver a practical and proportionate Directive. Whilst we share the European Parliament’s desire to improve access to information (the UK already spends considerable sums on geographic information activities that could contribute to a successful implementation of INSPIRE) we have serious concerns about the potential impact of its amendments. 

Negotiations on the INSPIRE proposal are ongoing. Information on the UK position on INSPIRE, including a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), is available on the Intra-Governmental Group on Geographic Information (IGGI) website at http://www.iggi.gov.uk/initiatives.php.

I hope that this letter addresses your concerns.

 

Yours sincerely 
 

Miss T Patel

Customer Contact Unit