This work belongs to the collection Technical Summaries of the different phases of marine strategies, which gathers the main documents of the second cycle marine strategies (2018-2024), in the context of Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 17, 2008, which establishes a framework for community action in the marine environmental policy or Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which states that Member States must take the necessary measures to achieve or maintain good environmental status of the marine environment.

This executive summary focuses on monitoring programs. The monitoring programs of the second cycle are very similar in content to monitoring programs of the first cycle, since they already adequately responded to the requirements of the MSFD and the Decision.

The update has particularly taken into account the adaptation of monitoring to the new criteria of Decision 2017/848, the changes introduced by Directive 2017/845, as well as the lessons learned during the first cycle. Furthermore, the recommendations collected in the Commission's Reporting Guide have been considered, ensuring consistency among the monitoring programs of the different Member States of the European Union.