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SatCen and Copernicus – Increased geospatial Support for EU External Action

On the 6th of October 2016, the European Commission entrusted SatCen with the operations of the Copernicus services in Support to EU External Action (SEA) with the signature of a Delegation Agreement by Lowri EVANS, Director-General DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) and Pascal Legai, SatCen Director.

SEA together with Border Surveillance and Maritime Surveillance is one of the three pillars of the security dimension of Copernicus, the EU Earth Observation programme.

In the framework of this agreement, SEA will provide the External Action user community – including CFSP/CSDP and its Missions and Operations – with a portfolio of services ranging from Reference Mapping to Activity Reports, in full compliance with SatCen governance. Since 2006, SatCen has been involved in the preparation of those services through activities funded by EU Framework Programmes (FP6, FP7), notably the LIMES, G-MOSAIC, BRIDGES and G-NEXT projects. In particular, G-NEXT implemented the pre-operational phase of the service and BRIDGES addressed its governance.

In implementing the service, SatCen will work in cooperation and build up synergies with the service operators for the two other components of the Copernicus Security Service, already put in place from the end of 2015, respectively with Frontex, acting as service operator for the border surveillance, and with “EMSA:“http://www.emsa.europa.eu/, implementing the maritime surveillance component.


Credits: SatCen/European Commission

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