Spyridon Flevaris

European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment, Avenue de Beaulieu 51160, Brussels, Belgium

e-mail: spyridon.flevaris@ec.europa.eu

Within the framework of the EU commitments as a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and in implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020[1], Regulation 1143/2014 on invasive alien species (IAS )[2] came into force on 1 January 2015. As a result, for the first time concerted action across the EU is undertaken to address IAS. At the core of the Regulation is a list of IAS of Union concern (i.e. the Union list). Three types of interventions are applied across the EU in relation to the species on the Union list: (i) prevention, (ii) early detection and rapid eradication of new invasions, and (iii) management of IAS that are already widely spread. Collaboration between the European Commission services and the competent authorities of the Member States has resulted in the publication of a “baseline distribution”[3] of the species on the Union list. Beyond the listed species, Member States can act on other IAS at national or regional levels. Member States will report on progress made by 1 June 2019. Next steps include the revision of the EU biodiversity policy in the context of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and review the application of the Regulation in 2021.

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/strategy/index_en.htm

2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1417443504720&uri=CELEX:32014R1143

3 https://easin.jrc.ec.europa.eu/easin/Documentation/Baseline