WFD - River Basin Districts And Competent Authorities
Last update: 2026-04-24
Purpose and overview
This section revises the River Basin Districts, Subunits and Competent Authorities classes used in the 3ʳᵈ cycle of reporting of the Water Framework Directive River Basin Management Plans (Figure 1). It also revises the associated spatial data in the RiverBasinDistrict dataset and SubUnit dataset (Figure 2).
Figure 1 River Basin Districts, Subunits and Competent Authorities schema - 3ʳᵈ cycle - OBSOLETE
%%{init : {'theme' : 'default'}}%%
classDiagram
direction LR
namespace GML_2022{
class RiverBasinDistrict["«FeatureType»
RiverBasinDistrict"] {
+ geometry : GM_MultiSurface
+ inspireIdLocalId : String254LeadingLetterOrNum
+ inspireIdNamespace : String254LeadingLetterOrNum
+ inspireIdVersionId : String25Type [0..1]
+ thematicIdIdentifier : FeatureUniqueEUCodeType
+ thematicIdIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme
+ beginLifespanVersion : WiseDateTimeType [0..1]
+ endLifespanVersion : WiseDateTimeType [0..1]
+ predecessorsIdentifier : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ predecessorsIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ successorsIdentifier : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ successorsIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ wiseEvolutionType : WiseEvolutionTypeValue
+ nameTextInternational : String254Latin
+ nameText : String254Type
+ nameLanguage : WiseLanguageCode_Enum
+ designationPeriodBegin : WiseDateTimeType
+ designationPeriodEnd : WiseDateTimeType [0..1]
+ zoneType : ZoneTypeCode
+ legalBasisName : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ legalBasisLink : URLType [0..1]
+ legalBasisLevel : LegislationLevelValue [0..1]
+ relatedZoneTransboundaryIdentifier : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ relatedZoneTransboundaryIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ sizeValue : PositiveDecimalType [0..1]
+ sizeUom : UomSize [0..1]
+ link : URLType [0..1]
}
class FeatureCollectionRBD["«FeatureType»
FeatureCollection"] {
}
class SubUnit["«FeatureType»
SubUnit"] {
+ geometry : GM_MultiSurface
+ inspireIdLocalId : String254LeadingLetterOrNum
+ inspireIdNamespace : String254LeadingLetterOrNum
+ inspireIdVersionId : String25Type [0..1]
+ thematicIdIdentifier : FeatureUniqueEUCodeType
+ thematicIdIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme
+ beginLifespanVersion : WiseDateTimeType [0..1]
+ endLifespanVersion : WiseDateTimeType [0..1]
+ predecessorsIdentifier : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ predecessorsIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ successorsIdentifier : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ successorsIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ wiseEvolutionType : WiseEvolutionTypeValue
+ nameTextInternational : String254Latin
+ nameText : String254Type
+ nameLanguage : WiseLanguageCode_Enum
+ designationPeriodBegin : WiseDateTimeType
+ designationPeriodEnd : WiseDateTimeType [0..1]
+ zoneType : ZoneTypeCode
+ specialisedZoneType : SpecialisedZoneTypeCode
+ legalBasisName : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ legalBasisLink : URLType [0..1]
+ legalBasisLevel : LegislationLevelValue [0..1]
+ relatedZoneIdentifier : FeatureUniqueEUCodeType
+ relatedZoneIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme
+ relatedZoneTransboundaryIdentifier : String254LeadingLetterOrNum [0..1]
+ relatedZoneTransboundaryIdentifierScheme : IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ sizeValue : PositiveDecimalType [0..1]
+ sizeUom : UomSize [0..1]
+ link : URLType [0..1]
}
class FeatureCollectionSU["«FeatureType»
FeatureCollection"] {
}
}
RiverBasinDistrict "1..*" <-- FeatureCollectionRBD : + featureMember
SubUnit "1..*" <-- FeatureCollectionSU : + featureMember
Figure 2 RiverBasinDistrict and Subunit spatial datasets - 3ʳᵈ cycle - OBSOLETE
A proposal is presented for the electronic reporting in the 4ᵗʰ cycle:
The reporting of the units of management (i.e. the River Basin Districts) and of the competent authorities is combined into a single dataflow.
The overall structure of the new River Basin Districts and Competent Authorities dataflow is aligned with similar dataflows, e.g. under the Floods Directive [1].
Reporting is only requested under the following conditions:
If there are changes to the spatial delineation and/or the identifiers of one or more River Basin Districts (since the 3ʳᵈ cycle), the spatial dataset must be reported.
If there are changes to the competent authorities or their roles, the descriptive data must be reported in accordance with Article 3(8) and 3(9) of the WFD.
Data providers can specify which datasets are being updated (spatial data, descriptive data, or both).
Information about subunits is no longer requested.
The reporting of metadata has also been simplified.
Documents dataset - 4ᵗʰ cycle
The Documents dataset follows the standard structure used in various WISE dataflows (Figure 3):
The dcMetadata table is required and contains only one record per delivery (i.e. per country). It provides the basic Dublin Core metadata elements about the delivery.
If required by the data providers, and especially if spatial data is being reported, the licenseDocument and the metadataDocument attributes allow the provision of additional information about the dataset.
The dcMetadata table also functions as a “manifest file” explaining:
if the delivery contains an update of the spatial data (updateSpatialData = ‘Yes’)
and/or if the delivery contains an update of the competent authorities or their roles (updateCompetentAuthorities= ‘Yes’).
The structure of the Document table is standard in the WISE dataflows: it allows the upload of documents (for example, PDFs) or the provision of a hyperlink to a document stored in a publicly accessible national web site.
%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
classDiagram
direction LR
namespace Documents {
class dcMetadata {
+ title : String4000
+ creatorOrganisationName : String4000
+ creatorElectronicMailAddress : Email
+ description : String4000 [0..1]
+ created : Date [0..1]
+ language : Language [1..n]
+ license : URL
+ rights : String4000 [0..1]
+ rightsHolder : String4000 [0..1]
+ licenseDocument : documentCode [0..*]
+ metadataDocument : documentCode [0..*]
+ updateCompetentAuthorities : YesNo
+ updateSpatialData : YesNo
}
class Document {
+ documentCode : wiseIdentifier
+ documentName : String250
+ hyperlink : URL [0..1]
+ documentFile : Attachment [0..1]
}
}
dcMetadata -- "0..*" Document
Figure 3 River Basin Districts and Competent Authorities - 4ᵗʰ cycle - Documents
Descriptive dataset - 4ᵗʰ cycle
The Descriptive dataset contains two tables (Figure 4):
The CompetentAuthority table contains basic information about each Competent Authority.
The RiverBasinDistrictCompetentAuthority table associates each Competent Authority with a River Basin District and specifies the role(s) of the competent authority in that specific RBD.
%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
classDiagram
direction LR
namespace DescriptiveData {
class CompetentAuthority {
+ euCACode : wiseIdentifier
+ competentAuthorityName : String250
+ competentAuthorityNameNL : String250
+ competentAuthorityNameNLLanguage : Language
+ acronym : String100 [0..1]
+ street : String100
+ city : String100
+ country : String100
+ postCode : String100 [0..1]
+ url : URL
}
class RiverBasinDistrictCompetentAuthority {
+ euRBDCode: wiseIdentifier
+ euCACode: wiseIdentifier
+ roleCode: Role [1..*]
}
}
CompetentAuthority -- "1..*" RiverBasinDistrictCompetentAuthority
Figure 4 River Basin Districts and Competent Authorities - 4ᵗʰ cycle - Descriptive Data
%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
classDiagram
direction LR
namespace Codelist{
class Role{
<<enumeration>>
pressureAndImpactAnalysis
economicAnalysis
monitoringOfSurfaceWater
monitoringOfGroundwater
assessmentOfStatusOfSurfaceWater
assessmentOfStatusOfGroundwater
preparationOfRBMP
preparationOfProgrammeOfMeasures
implementationOfMeasures
publicParticipation
enforcementOfRegulations
coordinationOfImplementation
reportingToTheEuropeanCommission
}
}
Figure 5 River Basin Districts and Competent Authorities - 4ᵗʰ cycle - Descriptive Data - Codelist
Spatial dataset - 4ᵗʰ cycle
The Spatial dataset contains only the RiverBasinDistrict spatial table (Figure 6).
As stated before, Subunits are no longer requested in the 4ᵗʰ cycle of reporting.
The following changes have been made to the RiverBasinDistrict table (in comparison to the 3ʳᵈ cycle of reporting):
Two attributes were removed, because they can be derived from the reported geometry: sizeValue and sizeUom.
Two attributes were removed, because they are not required at EU level: relatedTransboundaryIdentifier and relatedTransboundaryIdentifierScheme.
The date values are now requested as simply as YYYY-MM-DD, because that was the format used by the data providers during the previous cycles, and therefore it is not necessary to mantain more variants. This applies to beginLifespanVersion, endLifespanVersion, designationPeriodBegin, designationPeriodEnd.
One attribute was moved from the descriptive dataset into the spatial dataset.
The specialisedZoneType now accepts the options {‘internationalRiverBasinDistrict’,’nationalRiverBasinDistrict’}.The attributes thematicIdIdentifierScheme and zoneType have been kept for clarity’s sake.
However, all records in the RiverBasinDistrict dataset have a fixed value for these attributes.Likewise, the attributes successorsIdentifier and successorsIdentifierScheme have been kept for clarity’s sake. In the reported datasets, the values of these attributes will always be NULL. The appropriate value will be derived and included in the published WISE datasets (for the 1st cycle, 2nd cycle and 3rd cycle RiverBasinDistrict datasets).
%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
classDiagram
direction LR
namespace Spatialdata {
class RiverBasinDistrict {
+ geometry_polygon: geometry_multipolygon
+ inspireIdLocalId: String
+ inspireIdNamespace: String
+ inspireIdVersionId: String [0..1]
+ thematicIdIdentifier: wiseIdentifier
+ thematicIdIdentifierScheme: IdentifierScheme
+ beginLifespanVersion: Date
+ endLifespanVersion: Date [0..1]
+ predecessorsIdentifier: comma-separated list of wiseIdentifier [0..1]
+ predecessorsIdentifierScheme: IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ successorsIdentifier: comma-separated list of wiseIdentifier [0..1]
+ successorsIdentifierScheme: IdentifierScheme [0..1]
+ wiseEvolutionType: WiseEvolutionType
+ nameTextInternational: String
+ nameText: String
+ nameLanguage: Language
+ designationPeriodBegin: Date
+ designationPeriodEnd: Date [0..1]
+ zoneType: ZoneType
+ specialisedZoneType: SpecialisedZoneType
+ legalBasisName: String [0..1]
+ legalBasisLink: URL [0..1]
+ legalBasisLevel: LegislationLevelValue [0..1]
+ link: URL [0..1]
}
}
Figure 6 River Basin Districts and Competent Authorities - 4ᵗʰ cycle - Spatial Data
Annex - Exploratory data analysis - 3ʳᵈ cycle
National and International River Basins Districts - 3ʳᵈ cycle
The query below retrieves the information reporting during the 3rd cycle.
If the information is correct, and the delineation of the River Basin Districts did not change,
then it is not necessary to report the RiverBasinDistrict dataset again.
Show code
-- https://discodata.eea.europa.eu/
SELECT [countryCode]
,[euRBDCode] AS [thematicIdIdentifier]
,'euRBDCode' AS [thematicIdIdentifierScheme]
,IIF([internationalRBD] = 'Yes', 'internationalRiverBasionDistrict', 'nationalRiverBasionDistrict') AS [specialisedZoneType]
FROM [WISE_WFD].[latest].[RBDSUCA_RBD]
WHERE [cYear] = 2022
References
The full reporting schemas for the 3ʳᵈ cycle of reporting can be found in the WFD2022 EAP file.
Warning
The original document containing this revised model can still be downloaded but should no longer be used.
See PROPOSAL - Version 2026.02.13 PDF