In order to achieve the results described above, the project was organised in six work packages and set itself a number of milestones spanning a total implementation period of two years.
In the first year of implementation, more than 65 legal and administrative processes (LAPs) relevant to the deployment of hydrogen technologies, covering 25 applications within 9 categories have been identified, defined and placed within their relevant application and category (An intensive, iterative process of methodological development has been employed for this purpose (see section Work package 2 for details). This is the first time that any project or private initiative has ever attempted and succeeded to identify and categorize the relevant areas of hydrogen technology deployment that are subject to potentially onerous regulations at local, regional, national and EU level.
Armed with this comprehensive list of LAP’s, the study has collected information in 17 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and one associated country (Norway) through an extensive process of data collection. The process involved, in each country, the engagement of a wide range of private and public stakeholder and the analysis of a large set of documentary sources such as past projects, legislative acts and other publications