European satellite navigation systems: implementation and exploitation 2014-2020

The European Parliament adopted by 603 votes to 29 with 59 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the implementation and exploitation of European satellite navigation systems.

Parliament adopted its position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary were the result of a compromise between Parliament and Council. They amend the Commission proposal as follows:

The European satellite navigation systems and programmes:

The system established under the Galileo programme shall be a civil system under civil control. GALILEO should contribute to integrity monitoring services aimed at users of safety-of-life applications in compliance with international standards.

The EGNOS system shall be a regional satellite navigation system infrastructure monitoring and correcting open signals emitted by existing global satellite navigation systems, as well as those of the open service offered by the system established under the Galileo programme, when they become available.

EGNOS’s functions shall be provided within the Member States' territories geographically located in Europe as soon as possible. The geographical coverage may be extended to other regions of the world, in particular to the territories of candidate countries, subject to technical feasibility and on the basis of international agreements. 

Galileo programme phasing: these are as follows:

·         a development and validation phase, to be completed by 31 December 2013;

·         a deployment phase to be completed by 31 December 2020, comprising the construction, establishment and protection of all space-based  infrastructure (in particular of all the satellites necessary) and of all ground-based infrastructure and the related evolutive maintenance and operations;

·         an exploitation phase to begin progressively between 2014 and 2015 with the provision of the initial services for the open service, search and rescue service and public regulated service.

The EGNOS exploitation phase mainly comprises: (i) the management, maintenance, continuous improvement, evolution and protection of the space-based infrastructure, and of the ground-based infrastructure; (ii) the provision and marketing of the services.

Ownership: the Union shall be the owner of all tangible and intangible assets created or developed under the programmes. The Commission shall ensure, through an appropriate framework, the optimal use of the assets; in particular, it shall manage the intellectual property rights related to the programmes as effectively as possible.

Financing: the Union shall finance the activities relating to Galileo and EGNOS programmes without prejudice to any contribution from any other funding source. The financial envelope is set at EUR 7 071.73 million in current prices for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020 broken down as follows:

·         for the activities regarding GALILEO deployment phase: EUR 1.93 billion at current prices;

·         for the activities regarding GALILEO exploitation phase: EUR 3 billion at current prices;

·         for the activities regarding EGNOS exploitation phase: EUR 1.58 billion at current prices;

·         for the activities associated with the management and monitoring of the programmes: EUR 0.56173 billion at current prices. 

In the interest of flexibility and to ensure a smooth running of the programmes, the Commission must be able to re-allocate funds from one category to another up to a ceiling of 10% of the total amount. It shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of any re-allocation of funds between categories of expenditure.

Governance of the programmes: public governance of the programmes shall be based on the principles of:

·         a strict division of tasks and responsibilities between the various bodies involved, in particular the Commission, the European GNSS Agency and the ESA, under the overall responsibility of the Commission;

·         sincere cooperation between these bodies and the Member States;

·         strong control of programmes, including for strict adherence to cost and schedule by all the bodies involved;

·         rationalisation of the use of existing structures, in order to avoid any duplications of technical expertise;

·         the use of the best practice project management systems and techniques to oversee the implementation of the programmes.

Role of the Commission: the Commission will have the overall responsibility for the programmes. It shall manage the funds and oversee the implementation of all programme activities, in particular with respect to the cost, schedule and performance. In this context, it must provide the Member States and the European Parliament, in a timely manner, with all relevant information pertaining to the programmes.

The Commission must also ensure the security of the programmes, including the security of the systems and their operation. It must determine the location of the ground-based infrastructure of the systems in accordance with security requirements, following an open and transparent process and ensure its operation.

The role of the European GNSS Agency: the Agency must:

·         ensure security accreditation through its Security Accreditation Board, and the operation of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre;

·         contribute to the promotion and marketing of services including by (i) establishing close contacts with users and potential users of the European GNSS and (ii) drawing up an action plan for the adoption by user community, comprising in particular relevant actions relating to standardisation and certification.

The role of the European Space Agency: for the deployment phase of the Galileo programme the Commission shall without delay conclude a delegation agreement with the ESA detailing the latter’s tasks, in particular as regards the design, development and procurement of the system.

The ESA will cooperate with the European GNSS Agency on the basis of working arrangements with the ESA setting out the latter's tasks. The working arrangements shall address the ESA's role in particular as regards:

·         conception, design, monitoring, procurement and validation in the framework of the development of future generations of the systems;

·         technical support in the framework of operation and maintenance of the existing generation of the systems.

Public procurement: in order to reduce the risk of poor contract performance or of non-performance, contracting authorities should, wherever appropriate, specify requirements related to the reliability of supplies and of the provision of services. 

In addition, in the case of purchases of goods and services of a sensitive nature, they may subject such purchases to specific requirements, particularly with a view to ensuring security of information.

In order to better evaluate the total cost of a product, service or work being tendered, including their long term operational cost, the total cost over the useful life-cycle of the product, service or work being tendered should be taken into account.

Review: by 30 June 2017, the Commission shall present an evaluation report on the implementation of the Regulation.  The evaluation shall also address technological developments relating to the systems.