USE AND DISSEMINATION OF I&CLC2000 PRODUCTS

Agreement between EEA and the participating member countries on a common policy for the use and the dissemination of I&CLC2000 products

PARTIES TO THE AGREEMENT

The present agreement is concluded between:

1. The European Environment Agency - on one side, as responsible body in charge with continuing the work (started under Decision 85/338/EEC - CORINE programme), as referred in art.2 (i) of Council Regulation 1210/90 as amended by the Council Regulation 933/1999 on the establishment of the European Environment Agency and European Environment Information and Observation Network, and


2. The Bulgarian Executive Environment Agency on the other side, as nominated national authority in charge with I&CLC2000 project coordination and products' dissemination.

DEFINITIONS

OBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT

The use and dissemination of the I&CLC2000 products represent the scope of the present agreement.

I&CLC2000 DATA OWNERSHIP

I&CLC2000 is a joint co-financed project by the European Community and each participating member country. As a consequence, the two parties represent the co-owners of the products derived from this activity (except for product 1 where the copyright remains with the providers of ortho-corrected satellite images). The I&CLC2000 project is managed by EEA together with JRC. The final aim of I&CLC2000 data is to serve both European Community policy needs as well as national interests and respond in a commonly agreed way to the general needs for public information.

EC POLICY CONCERNING THE ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

According with the provisions of the Council Directive 90/313/EEC on the freedom of access to information on the environment, the Community and the Member Countries have the obligation to improve public access to information held by environmental authorities. Within this overall context, the present agreement intends to establish for the I&CLC2000 project a good public visibility by ensuring the widest possible use and dissemination of the expected products to all interested parties.

РEEA ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL DATA DISSEMINATION

The EEA is jointly with JRC the coordinating body for the I&CLC2000 project and has according with its founding regulation responsibility for environmental data dissemination. In carrying this task EEA is following the general EU policy concerning information dissemination aiming as far as possible to the free and wide dissemination of its products.

I&CLC2000 PRODUCTS

The main outputs of I&CLC2000 project will be as follows:

Product 1:
Individual satellite scenes: ortho-rectified using national projection, resampling with cubic convolution, all spectral bands, 25 m resolution (12.5 m panchromatic band), in BIL format, including metadata.

Product 2:
National IMAGE2000: national mosaic by basic working unit (map sheet) using national projection, all spectral bands 25 m resolution (12.5 m panchromatic band), including metadata and image layer with boundaries for stitching between individual scenes, in BIL format.

Product 3:
National CLC2000: national land cover database for 2000 as result of the data collection and processing exercise performed by each national team including generalisation to 44 classes, 25 ha minimum mapping unit, in geographical coordinates, in vector format.

Product 4:
National land cover database on land cover changes larger than 5 ha between CLC1990 and CLC2000, in geographical coordinates, in vector format.

Product 5:
European IMAGE2000: European satellite image reference mosaic for 2000 using a European projection, all spectral bands, 25 m resolution (12.5 m panchromatic band), including metadata and image layer with boundaries for stitching between individual scenes, in BIL format.

Product 6:
European CLC2000: European land cover database for 2000 as result of mosaic of national datasets, including 44 classes, 25 ha minimum mapping unit, in geographical coordinates, in vector format.

Product 7:
European database on land cover changes larger than 5 ha between CLC1990 and CLC2000, in vector format. To ensure a wide use and facilitate a broad dissemination of the I&CLC2000 products, a number of aggregated products will be produced from the I&CLC2000 main outputs at European level (namely products 6 and 7).
Most of the users are interested in grid-based land cover datasets allowing easy data handling for analysis of the land cover information at European scale. The following products will be derived:

Product 8:
CORINE land cover 250 m grid-based database as a result of a vector to raster conversion.

Product 9:
CORINE land cover 100 m grid-based database as a result of a vector to raster conversion.

Product 10:
CORINE land cover 1km² land cover statistics.

Product 11:
National CORINE land cover metadata.

Product 12:
European CORINE land cover data.

USE OF I&CLC2000 PRODUCTS

All the above-mentioned products are addressing in particular the needs of member countries and European Community bodies, including EEA. Therefore, for all products the national authorities in charge of I&CLC2000, European Commission services and EEA are granted unlimited use beyond I&CLC2000 project.

DISSEMINATION OF I&CLC2000 PRODUCTS

Neither the European Commission nor the EEA are aiming to achieve any commercial benefit from the dissemination of the above-mentioned products. The sole purpose the EC and EEA will be using the above-mentioned products is to better respond to the member countries needs by ensuring a realistic and coherent scientific support to EU policy formulation and implementation processes. At the same time, all products might be of relevance for a broader audience, therefore they will be opened for dissemination to third parties, as follows:

1. For non-commercial purposes:
- by the participating countries for all products through the national authority in charge of I&CLC2000 project;
- by the EEA through its own services, for the European products (namely for products 8, 9, 10 and 12 and, subject to prior approval by the concerned member country for product 6 and 7).

The I&CLC2000 products will be made available to the third parties for non-commercial use at a marginal production and dissemination costs.

2. For commercial purposes:
- by the member countries for all products (except product 1) through the national authority in charge of I&CLC2000 project;
- by the provider of the ortho-corrected satellite images for product1.

MONITORING THE USE OF I&CLC2000 PRODUCTS

For monitoring the use of the I&CLC2000 products by the third parties, a standard agreement form will be requested for signature before enabling accessing/delivery of the products (see attached form). Each request has to be duly justified in terms of potential use and regular feed-back on possible applications provided. EEA and the national authorities in charge with I&CLC2000 in each participating country are obliged to inform each other about the use by third parties, especially in terms of possible applications developed and findings related to the used products.
In case of commercialisation of I&CLC2000 products to third parties, both the member country (through the national authority in charge with I&CLC2000 project) and the providers of ortho-corrected satellite images (for product 1) should inform each other and EEA on the possible applications developed and the findings related to the used products.

ENTRY INTO FORCE

The present agreement enters into force upon the date of signature by both parties.

DURATION

The present agreement is concluded for an indefinite period.