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Marine litter is a growing problem for environmental and human health and policies have included monitoring as an important tool to evaluate both trends and the efficiency of reduction measures. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive is the main driver in Europe for the monitoring of the marine environment; it has included the evaluation of marine litter in order to support policies and achieve good environmental status. This assessment depends on the availability of robust, homogeneous data-sets at the European scale. A data management plan for marine litter has been developed at European level within the existing EMODnet network to collect, homogenise and provide access to standardised data-sets and data products that may be used as a basis for marine litter assessment at pan-European scale. As a long term perspective, it also provides a scientific and technical basis for further global monitoring. • A comprehensive litter assessment needs of a coherent collection of litter data. • Comparability is challenging due to heterogeneity in data and monitoring protocols. • EMODnet Chemistry has succeeded in having a litter database on a European scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]