The primary missions of the GMES Advisory Council, in particular in the early phase of GMES implementation, are to:

• Provide strategic advice to the GMES Programme Office concerning the long-term implementation of GMES services, creating favourable conditions enabling the development of services, stressing the user driven orientation of GMES, the need for interoperability, data harmonisation and avoidance of duplication of efforts;
  
  
• Foster the co-ordination among, and the complementary role of European and national activities, thereby encouraging the creation of a "GMES partnership", as outlined in the GMES Communication;
  
  
• Facilitate consensus-building in the relevant community(ies) around the development of a GMES capacity, in particular in relation to "initial services", and taking account of the "GMES final report for the Initial Phase" and of the GMES Communication.

The GMES Advisory Council brings together EU/ESA Member States, the European Commission and ESA, as well as other stake-holders on an ad-hoc basis: relevant international organisations (e.g. EEA, EUMETSAT, European Maritime Safety Agency, EU Satellite Centre, etc.), representatives of end-users, industry, service providers, research organisations, academia.

The Advisory Council is composed of members drawn from EU and ESA Member States, in particular those with interest in making significant contributions to GMES related operations, as well as from the European Commission and from ESA.