Organisation of the RBC Elbe

The organisation of the River Basin Community Elbe is divided into three levels.The supreme body is the Elbe-Ministerial Conference consisting of the responsible ministers and senators for Water Management of the contracting partners.

The Elbe-Council consists of the Ministries' and Senate Departments' heads of department responsible for Water Management. The Elbe-Council decides e.g. upon fundamental aspects related to the implementation of the WFD in the district of the RBC Elbe and on the representation of the RBC Elbe in international task-coordinating panels of the international Elbe River Basin District. 

The Coordinating Council acts as specialized body, in which all partners are represented by one member each. In all panels the Federal States’ representatives cooperate with representatives of the German Federal Government.

To implement the technical tasks experts of the contracting partners work together in different working groups (Surface waters, Groundwater, Data, Flood Risk Management).

The RBC Elbe's Liaison Office in Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt) is responsible for matters of coordination and implementation. The RBC Elbe closely cooperates with the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe (ICPE), which coordinates the international cooperation of the Elbe countries.