EU Environmental Technology Verification pilot programme - Guidance documents: Guidelines for the workflow of documents and information between Verification Bodies, Technical Working Groups and Commission Services

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) is a new tool to enable the verification of the claims provided by environmental technologies. The Programme is set up foreseeing the existence of Technical Working Groups (TWGs), one for each technology area active under the Pilot programme. These are chaired by the JRC and composed by Commission Invited Experts and by Experts representing the Verification Bodies with the overall aim to harmonise and exchange good practices among member states. This document summarises the outcome of the discussion of the Technical Working Groups concerning the the streamline of information and agrees on a workflow for the communication of documents between Verification Bodies, Technical Working Groups and Commission Services. This document, adopted on the on the 15th October 2013 by the TWGs, is a specific guidance document, with the meaning given in the General Verification Protocol of the EU ETV pilot programme (version 1.0), Section A.II.4.3. It has been produced by the EU ETV Technical Working Groups, chaired by the JRC, under the auspices of DG Environment.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo

Use of the ETV logo and post-verification requirements when marketing a technology verified through the ETV scheme

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) is a new tool enabling the verification of the performance claims put forward by developers of innovative environmental technologies. The Programme is set up foreseeing the existence of Technical Working Groups (TWGs), one for each technology area active under the Pilot Programme. These are chaired by the JRC and composed by Commission Invited Experts and by Experts representing the Verification Bodies with the overall aim to harmonise and exchange good practices among member states. ETV has a logo inherited from previous ETV FP7 projects, but it is not an official logo of the European Commission. ETV is not a certification nor a labialisation scheme. Therefore the logo should be used in well-defined conditions, specifying clearly what has been verified. This document defines and clarifies all elements relative to the logo and its use: design specifications, uses of the logo under different marketing circumstances and communication purposes. This document, adopted on the date by the TWGs on 08/04/2015, is a guidance document, with the meaning given in the General Verification Protocol of the EU ETV pilot programme (version 1.1), Section A.II.4.3. It has been produced by the EU ETV Technical Working Groups, chaired by the JRC, under the auspices of DG Environment. This document is also deliverable 2.1.6.4 under the Administrative Arrangement 070307/2011/630755/F4 between DG ENV and JRC (ref JRC No. 32937), “Scientific and technical support for the implementation of the EU Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) pilot programme” as modified by amendment 1 signed 16/06/2014.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo

Review of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU concerning MSFD criteria for assessing Good Environmental Status, Descriptor 7

This report represents the result of the scientific and technical review of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU in relation to Descriptor 7. 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 report is one of a series of reports (review manuals) including Descriptor 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 that conclude phase 1 of the review process and, as agreed within the MSFD Common Implementation Strategy, are the basis for review phase 2, towards an eventual revision of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU. The report presents the state of the technical discussions as of 30 April 2015 (document version 7.0: ComDecRev_D7_V7.0_FINAL.docx), as some discussions are ongoing, it does not contain agreed conclusions on all issues. The document does not represent an official, formal position of any of the Member States and the views expressed in the document are not to be taken as representing the views of the European Commission.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

Wages determinants in the European Union Evidence from structure of earnings survey (SES 2014) data : 2020 edition

El ISSN y el ISBN corresponden a la versión electrónica del documentoSince the turn of the millennium, the European Commission (Eurostat) has published detailed and harmonized information on the nominal wages paid by the employers to their employees. This information, collected with the support of the European Statistical System, provides important insights into the labour market situation of the different Member States of the European Union. For employers, wages represent an important part of the production costs and determine to some extent their cost competitiveness. For most employees, wages make the main part of their income thereby contributing to their economic welfare. The importance of ensuring fair and transparent wages was highlighted in the European pillar of social rights (Commission, 2017) that was fully endorsed by the new Commission (van der Leyen, 2019). It is therefore important to monitor the levels and developments of wages and total labour costs at a macroeconomic level, as done by Eurostat through a complete set of annual and quarterly releases. It is equally useful to analyse how the individual job profiles and characteristics of the employer determine wage patterns in the different EU countries. This provides information on how labour markets reward the different characteristics of the job tenant and how the different types of businesses compete in terms of wages offered to their employees. By crossing job characteristics with sex, such analyses also shed light on possible gaps between the financial returns on education, part-time work etc. offered to men versus women. The study presented in this document uses the detailed information collected through the latest Structure of Earnings Survey (SES 2014) that records the gross wages received and the individual characteristics of about 240 000 enterprises and 11 million employees throughout the EU. This statistical working paper should help users to better understand the determinants of wages in the different EU countries thus contributing to the public debate and policy actions in the labour market domain

EU Environmental Technology Verification pilot programme - Guidance documents: Guidelines for the eligibility assessment of technologies proposed to the EU-ETV scheme

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) is a new tool to enable the verification of the claims provided by environmental technologies. The Programme is set up foreseeing the existence of Technical Working Groups (TWGs), one for each technology area active under the Pilot programme. These are chaired by the JRC and composed by Commission Invited Experts and by Experts representing the Verification Bodies with the overall aim to harmonise and exchange good practices among member states. This document summarises the outcome of the discussion of the Technical Working Groups concerning the assessment of eligibility criteria by Verification Bodies. It clarifies and provides guidance to help Verification Bodies evaluate whether a technology proposed for ETV meets the minimum requirements imposed by the programme such as fitting the scope of the programme, presenting innovative features and an environmental added value, being “ready-to-market” and meeting user’s needs and legal requirements. This document, adopted on the on the 23rd April 2014 by the TWGs, is a specific guidance document, with the meaning given in the General Verification Protocol of the EU ETV pilot programme (version 1.0), Section A.II.4.3. It has been produced by the EU ETV Technical Working Groups, chaired by the JRC, under the auspices of DG Environment.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo

Errors in EU-English

Under the EU’s multilingualism policy, its 24 languages have equal status as both official and working languages. However, in fact, most of the EU’s day-to-day work is now conducted in English. In contrast, most EU staff writing in English are not native speakers, and their proficiency in drafting documents in English may vary. There is also no systematic procedure for ensuring that texts are edited before publication, resulting in a varying level of quality in terms of the English used.This paper uses a widely-distributed EU Commission document as a starting point for examining some of the English language errors commonly found in EU documents. It is argued that these errors often make them difficult to read and interfere with the EU’s ability to communicate with the public

Methodology for establishing the EU list of critical raw materials - Guidelines

This is a prescriptive document containing the guidelines and the ‘ready-to-apply’ methodology for the EU criticality assessment and the revision of the list of critical raw materials (CRM) for the EU. These synthesised guidelines build on the methodology used to establish the lists of CRM in 2011 and 2014 and integrate the methodological improvements identified by the European Commission in the project ‘Assessment of the methodology on the list of critical raw materials’, in close consultation with the ad hoc working group ‘Defining critical raw materials’. Additional information regarding the methodology, including justification and discussion, can be found in the background report developed by the Directorate General Joint Research Centre (JRC) and in related annexes. These guidelines also contain recommendations on how to reorganise and improve the single fact sheets of the assessed raw material