Report of the JRC's descriptor 5 workshop to support the review of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU concerning MSFD criteria for assessing good environmental status : 29th-30th September 2015, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

The MSFD workshop on eutrophication (D5), held in Ispra JRC (29th-30th of September 2015) aimed to provide clear proposals and conclusions on some of the outstanding issues identified in the D5 review manual (May 2015 consultation version: https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/ed3cd091-aa56-4f8e-9691-d44bbd666ed5) in the broader context of support to the review of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU. This report is complementing the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU review manual (JRC96900) and presents the result of the scientific and technical review concluding phase 1 of the review of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU in relation to Descriptor 5. The review has been carried out by the EC JRC together with experts nominated by EU Member States, and has considered contributions from the GES Working Group in accordance with the roadmap set out in the MSFD implementation strategy (agreed on at the 11th CIS MSCG meeting). The main issues addressed and tackled in this workshop‟s report are: - Criteria and indicators/parameters; - How to handle coastal waters (i.e. WFD-MSFD overlapping waters); - Eutrophication assessment frameworks; - Use of WFD quality standards (GES boundaries) for ecological elements; how are GES boundaries per quality elements set? - Assessment scales and aggregation rules; - Initial screening procedures.