Cross-border Consultation on Maritime Spatial Plans

With the development of maritime spatial plans in accordance with the EU Directive on Maritime Spatial Planning (EU MSP Directive, 2014/89/EU), countries are expected to increasingly cooperate and consult with one another on these plans. The methods and means of establishing and carrying out cooperation and consultation are left to Member States to decide, and is not prescribed in the EU MSP Directive.

Experience in conducting cross-border consultation on maritime spatial plans is not only limited globally, but also throughout Europe, given that there are a limited number of formally adopted maritime spatial plans to date.  However, Member States already engage with one another on cross-border MSP in the context of existing cooperation mechanisms and/or projects, and this existing work provides a foundation for informing future effective consultation processes.