Protection of the marine environment – an overview of EU legislation

The European Commission is conducting a public consultation on an initiative following an evaluation of the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive to prepare a proposal for its revision. The aim of the ongoing activities is to protect the marine environment more effectively, simplify regulations and further implement the directive, make better use of data, and reduce the administrative burden.

As envisaged, the above action will not affect the Directive’s existing environmental goals, i.e. to ensure that the European Union’s marine waters are clean, healthy, resilient and productive.
Join the consultation, your voice counts!

General context

Protection of marine waters is one of the key tasks of EU member states in the area of environmental protection. This goal is realized, among other things, through the implementation of Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, in force since 2008.

Nevertheless, the deepening loss of biodiversity, increasing pollution and climate change, along with the growing demand for water, energy, natural resources and food, mean that more needs to be done to protect or restore ecosystems.
According to the EC’s position, preservation and protection of the marine environment are key elements in dealing with the aforementioned crisis and a path to a gradual transformation to achieve:

• Climate neutrality by 2050;
• objectives of the EU Action Plan for the elimination of water, air and soil pollution;
• Biodiversity Strategy goals;
• The objectives of the Natural Resources Restoration Ordinance.

However, the transboundary nature of the sea requires a harmonized and coordinated approach within and between maritime regions.

Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 17, 2008, establishing a framework for Community action in the field of marine environmental policy (the so-called Marine Strategy Framework Directive), indicates the need to protect the European Union’s marine environment and ensure the sustainable exploitation of its resources.

Its main objective was to achieve and/or maintain good status of the European Union’s marine waters by 2020. It provides the basis for taking the necessary measures to achieve or maintain good ecological status of the marine environment for European seas, including the Baltic Sea.
It complements other EU water legislation, including the Water Framework Directive, which focuses on inland, surface and groundwater.

The transposition of the provisions of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive into Polish legislation took place primarily through the Water Law Act and some of its implementing acts.

Evaluation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

The European Commission regularly evaluates the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, publishing reports indicating both progress and the need for further action in an effort to improve the state of marine waters and identify key areas in need of enhanced protection.

A recent assessment of the directive indicated that it has prevented the achievement of the main goal of achieving good environmental status in all EU marine waters by 2020, and that the triple planetary crisis has exacerbated pressures on marine waters. The assessment identified shortcomings in the directive’s regulatory framework, implementation and management. This has resulted in a failure to achieve the directive’s goals, as well as inefficiencies and unnecessary administrative burdens for member states. In addition, it was pointed out that little is still known about marine ecosystems, including their condition and how human activities affect them.

Therefore, the role of the Directive in creating a transparent and integrated framework for action on marine environmental protection, including a source-to-sea approach, has been recognized. This approach was recommended in the Water Resilience Strategy and the European Pact for the Oceans (COM(2025)281 final). In these documents, the revision of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive is one of the guiding actions.

Public consultation is underway – your voice counts!

On December 15, 2025. The European Commission launched a public consultation to gather opinions and data needed to further define the problem described in the assessment of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, develop policy options and assess their feasibility and impact.

The purpose of the ongoing work is to provide all interested parties with an opportunity to present their views and arguments on the possible revision and simplification of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

In line with the Water Resilience Strategy, the revised directive would help strengthen the resilience of water management in the EU. In addition, developing digital technologies could help make the directive more effective and easier to implement. According to the EC, intensifying relevant scientific research could provide information for the revision of the directive and assist certain economic sectors in planning investments and activities regarding marine zones and technologies.

The revision of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive would aim to achieve two main goals:

• Enhance protection of the marine environment and support progress toward achieving good environmental status;
• Simplifying implementation and reducing the administrative burden.

According to the EC, the preparation of the proposal to amend the directive will be closely coordinated with the preparation of the omni-ocean act, which is based on the revision of the Marine Spatial Planning Directive. The goal of these efforts is to ensure a coherent and integrated approach to ocean management in the EU.

According to information posted on the EC website, comments and opinions on the initiative can be sent until March 9, 2026 via a special form.

The European Commission plans to publish a report on the consultation on its website, and to include a summary of the results and responses in its impact assessment of the ongoing initiative.

Anticipated effects

The European Commission assumes that the initiative will have:

• Environmental impact (including better protection of marine resources, climate change mitigation, pollution reduction);
• Impact on fundamental rights and equality (including protecting the right of future generations);
• Economic impacts (including regulatory clarity and certainty; improved marine ecosystem services; sustainable marine tourism, fisheries and aquaculture; reduced costs for monitoring, reporting and data use);
• Social impacts (including improved public health and new employment opportunities in the blue economy; coastal protection from flooding; increased awareness, knowledge of the oceans, and public involvement in marine conservation);
• Territorial effects (regional cooperation, among others).

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In the article, I used:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16093-Ochrona-srodowiska-morskiego-przeglad-przepisow-UE_pl

https://www.gov.pl/web/infrastruktura/ramowa-dyrektywa-w-sprawie-strategii-morskiej

https://commission.europa.eu/topics/environment/water-resilience-strategy_pl