1. The WISE Water Framework Directive (WFD) Protected Area spatial data set includes:

* Drinking water protected areas.

* Designated areas, such as Fish protected areas and Shellfish protected areas.

* Nitrates vulnerable zones.

* Urban waste water sensitive areas.

* Bathing water protected areas.

2. The data source varies according to the type of Protected Area:

a. The drinking water protected areas and designated areas were reported to the European Commission during the second River Basin Management Plans WFD reporting process, due in 2016.

b. The nitrates vulnerable zones were reported to the European Commission under the Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC reporting process, for the reference period 2012-2015.

c. The urban waste water sensitive areas were reported to the European Commission under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) reporting process, for the reference period 2016 and complemented with information reported in previous years or under the WFD reporting process.

d. The bathing water protected areas are reported under the Bathing Water Directive (BWD) annual reporting process. The data set includes information reported up to 2018.

3. The information from the different data sources was converted to the WFD Protected Area data model. Detailed information about the structure and content of the spatial data sets reported in WFD2016 can be found in the WISE GIS Guidance. Note that some of the information that is mandatory in the WFD Protected Area data model is not available for all data sources.

4. The geometry of protected areas can be reported using polygons, polylines or points. Separate shapefiles are provided for each geometry type, due to the limitations of the shapefile format. Polygonal geometries are published in the ProtectedArea shapefile, linear geometries in ProtectedAreaLine shapefile and point geometries in the ProtectedAreaPoint shapefile. The ProtectedAreaPoint shapefile may also contain records for which the geometry is not available.

5. The geometry of the spatial objects is published in WGS 84 (urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326). The geometry of the objects was not edited or corrected. Topological and positional errors may exist. If more than one geometry type was reported for the same protected area, then polygons were preferred to polylines or points, and polylines were preferred to points. If more one geometry of the same type was reported for the same protected area, a geometry aggregate was created which may contain overlapping parts.

6. The size of spatial objects was calculated from the projected geometries in ETRS89-LAEA (urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3035). For objects without proper geometry, the reported size is used if available.

7. The following access and use limitations are applicable to the WFD Protected Area data sets:

a. The information about drinking water protected areas is not published if the source file in the Central Data Repository (CDR) has been restricted by the Data Provider.

b. The use limitations and the access limitations and other constraints set by the Data Providers are described in the metadata files associated with each delivery in CDR.