What changed between the adopted text of 12 Sept 2023 and the adopted text of 24 Apr 2024

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9, Article 12 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2: Member States shall respond to each other in a timely manner, and no later than 2 months after notification by another Member State in accordance with paragraph 1.

Added:(31) It is necessary to take into account scientific and technical progress and the best available methods in the area of monitoring of the status of water bodies in accordance with the monitoring requirements set out in Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC. Therefore, Member States should be allowed to use of data and services from remote sensing technologies, earth observation (Copernicus services), in-situ sensors and devices, or citizen science data, leveraging the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis and processing. [Am. 45]

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:(31a) Industrial activities related to the energy transition could increase adverse impacts on the water quality. Mitigating such future impacts, such as changes to natural flow patterns and temperature, and water pollution, requires assessing the full range of potential factors as well as measures to be taken to achieve and maintain good water quality. Therefore, Member States should regularly evaluate the impact on water quality of industrial activities related to the energy transition and inform the Commission of newly identified threats with the aim of updating the watch list accordingly. The evaluation should be easily accessible to the public and the update should be allowed to occur outside of the general updating cycles, to ensure a continuous improvement of water quality assessment. [Am. 46]

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 a (new), Article 13 – paragraph 4 a (new): (9a) in Article 13, the following paragraph is inserted: / "4a. The Commission shall reject the river basin management plans presented by Member States when these plans do not include the elements listed in Annex VII."

Added:(31b) The Commission, in its communication of 11 December 2019 on the European Green Deal and its communication of 14 October 2020 on improving access to justice in environmental matters, committed to taking action to improve access to justice before national courts in all Member States for citizens and environmental non-governmental organisations that have specific concerns about the compatibility of administrative acts that have effects on the environment with environmental law. In the latter communication, the Commission affirms that ‘access to justice in environmental matters, both via the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the national courts as Union courts, is an important support measure to help deliver the European Green Deal transition and a way to strengthen the role which civil society can play as watchdog in the democratic space’. Those commitments should be implemented also under Directive 2000/60/EC. [Am. 47]

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:(31c) As confirmed by the case law of the CJEU, environmental non-governmental organisations and directly concerned individuals should be provided legal standing in order to challenge a decision taken by a public authority, which is in breach of the environmental objectives referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2000/60/EC. With the purpose of enhancing access to justice in the matters concerned before national courts across the Union and for environmental non-governmental organisations and directly concerned individuals to be able to rely on national laws when challenging decisions that are in breach of Directive 2000/60/EC, provisions to ensure access to justice should be established in Directive 2000/60/EC. [Am. 48]

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 9 a (new), Article 14 a (new): (9a) The following Article is inserted : / "Article 14a / Access to justice / 1. Member States shall ensure that members of the public, in accordance with national law, that have a sufficient interest or that allege the impairment of a right, have access to a review procedure before a court of law, or another independent and impartial body established by law, to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of all decisions, acts or omissions under this Directive concerning, inter alia: / (a) plans and projects which may be contrary to the requirements of Article 4, including to prevent the deterioration of the status of bodies of water and to achieve good water status, good ecological potential and/or good water chemical status, to the extent that those requirements are not already provided for under Article 11 of Directive 2011/92/EU; / (b) programmes of measures referred to in Article 11, Member State river basin management plans referred to in Article 13(1) and supplementary Member State programmes or management plans referred to in Article 13(5). / 2. Member States shall determine what constitutes a sufficient interest and the impairment of a right, in a manner that is consistent with the objective of providing the public with wide access to justice. For the purposes of paragraph 1, any non-governmental organisation that promotes environmental protection and meets the relevant requirements under national law shall be deemed to have rights capable of being impaired and…

Added:(32) Considering the increases in unforeseeable weather events, in particular extreme floods and prolonged droughts, and in significant pollution incidents resulting in or exacerbating transboundary accidental pollution, Member States should be required to ensure that immediate information on such incidents is provided to other potentially affected Member States and effectively cooperate with potentially affected Member States to mitigate the effects of the event or incident. It is also necessary to reinforce cooperation between Member States and streamline procedures for transboundary cooperation in case of more structural, i.e. non accidental and longer term transboundary issues which cannot be solved at Member State level, in accordance with Article 12 of Directive 2000/60/EC. In case European assistance is necessary, competent national authorities may send requests for assistance to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the Commission, which will coordinate possible offers of assistance and their deployment through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, in accordance with Article 15 of Decision 1313/2013n 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. Considering that river basin districts can also extend beyond the territory of the Union, ensuring that there is effective implementation of relevant provisions for water protection under Directive 2000/60/EC as well as appropriate coordination with the relevant non-Member States would also contribute to the objectives as set out in Directive 2000/60/EC for those specific river basin districts, as referred to in Article 3(5) of Directive 2000/60/EC. In addition, armed conflicts taking place in close geographical proximity to the Union should also be considered as exceptional events due to their extensive negative transboundary environmental impact, including air, soil and water pollution. As the river basins affected by such conflicts could extend within the Union’s boundaries, the Commission and Member States should increase their endeavours to establish appropriate coordination with relevant non-Member States as referred to in Article 3(5) of Directive 2000/60/EC. [Am. 49]

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:(32a) The European Court of Auditors in its report of 19 May 2021 entitled ‘The Polluter Pays Principle: Inconsistent application across EU environmental policies and actions’ notes that Member States already spend around EUR 100 billion per year on water supply and sanitation and that increases of that expenditure are expected to amount to over 25 % to meet the objectives of Union legislation on wastewater treatment and drinking water, while not including investments needed to renew existing infrastructure or meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive. Furthermore, in the Union, users pay on average for around 70 % of the cost of providing water services, through water tariffs, while the public purse finances the remaining 30 %, although there are considerable differences between regions and Member States. Households in the Union usually pay for most of the cost of water supply and sanitation services, even though they consume only 10 % of water, whereas the economic sectors that exert the most pressure on renewable freshwater resources contribute the least to meeting such costs. [Am. 50]

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 10, Article 15 – paragraph 3: deleted

Added:(32b) The costs of monitoring programmes for determining the status of surface water and ground water are financed solely through Member States’ budgets. Given that the number of chemicals detected in the aquatic environment is constantly changing, that there is a growing number of emerging pollutants which have just recently appeared in the aquatic environment, that constant improvement of chemical analytical methods is required in order to detect these emerging and new pollutants and correctly assess their ecological impact, and that also new monitoring methods need to be developed in order to better assess effects of chemical mixtures, those monitoring costs are expected to increase even further. In order to cover those costs, and in accordance with the polluter pays principle enshrined in Article 191(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), it is essential that producers placing on the Union market products that contain substances which have a proven or potential negative impact on human health and the aquatic environment take financial responsibility for the measures required to control substances generated in the context of their commercial activities and found in surface water and groundwater. A system of extended producer responsibility is likely the most appropriate means of achieving this, as it would limit the financial burden on the taxpayer, while providing an incentive to develop greener products. The Commission should, therefore, prepare an impact assessment examining the inclusion in Directive 2006/118/EC and Directive 2008/105/EC of an extended producer responsibility mechanism, applicable to priority substances defined under Directive 2006/118/EC and under Directive 2008/105/EC, as well as to emerging and new pollutants, as defined in the watch lists under Directive 2006/118/EC and Directive 2008/105/EC. The impact assessment should be accompanied, where appropriate, by a legislative proposal to revise Directives 2006/118/EC and 2008/105/EC. [Am. 51]

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:(32c) Monitoring of an increased number of substances or group of substances involves increased costs but also the need for strengthened administrative capacity in the Member States, especially those with scarcer resources. In light of the above, the Commission should set up a joint European monitoring facility for managing the monitoring requirements when so requested by the Member States, thus easing their financial and administrative burdens. The Commission should define the methods of operation of the monitoring facility. The use of such facility should be voluntary and without prejudice to arrangements already set in place by the Member States. [Am. 52]

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 10a (new), Article 15 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2: (10a) in Article 15(3) the following subparagraph is added: / The Commission shall adopt guidelines and templates concerning the content, structure and format of the interim reports referred to in the first subparagraph, no later than [six months after the entry into force of this Directive].

Added:(32d) Evidence shows that there is an investment need in the water sector and Union funding is vital for some Member States to comply with legal obligations laid down in Directive 2000/60/EC, Directive 2008/105/EC and Directive 2006/118/EC. All Member States need to increase their expenditure by at least 20% to reach Union water standards and there is an aggregated financing gap of EUR 289 billion up to 2030. It is therefore necessary to ensure that sufficient financial and human resources are provided for the purpose of carrying out monitoring and inspections of water bodies in all Member States, including via relevant Union structural funds and programmes, as well as via contributions from the private sector, including under the extended producer responsibility mechanism, once put in place. [Am. 53]

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:(33) Directives 2000/60/EU, 2006/118/EC and 2008/105/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 12 – point b, Article 18 – paragraph 4: deleted

Added:(34) Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to ensure a high level of environmental protection and an improvement of the environmental quality of European freshwaters, cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States alone but can rather, by reason of the transboundary nature of water pollution, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:(34a) Member States should encourage synergies between the requirements of the relevant directives concerning both data collection and deployment of digital tools such as remote sensing technologies or earth observation (Copernicus services). [Am. 54]

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18 a (new), Annex VII – Part A – point 7.7. a (new): (18a) In Annex VII, Part A, the following point is inserted: / “7.7a. a summary of the measures taken to digitise the monitoring aspects of the water sector; ”

Added:(34b) The competent authorities should support training, skills development programmes and investment in human capital to support the effective implementation of the best technologies and innovative solutions within the framework of the directives. Information should be accessible in the different national languages in order to strengthen accessibility to the relevant data across Europe for the relevant local actors and citizens. [Am. 55]

Removed:Directive 2000/60/EC

Added:HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Removed:AnnexX

Added:Article 1 Amendments to Directive 2000/60/EC

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 20: (20) Annexes IX and X are deleted.

Added:Directive 2000/60/EC is amended as follows:

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:(1) in Article 1, point (e), the fourth indent is replaced by the following: [Am. 56]

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2, Article 1 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. This Directive establishes specific measures to prevent and control groundwater pollution with the aim of achieving the environmental objectives set out in Article 4(1), point (b), of Directive 2000/60/EC. The hierarchy of measures to be taken shall prioritise restrictions and other control-at-source measures, without prejudice to the importance of end-of-pipe measures, where appropriate. Those measures include the following:

Added:‘­— achieving the objectives of relevant international agreements, including those which aim to prevent and eliminate pollution of the marine environment, by Union action to cease or phase out discharges, emissions and losses of priority hazardous substances, with the ultimate aim of achieving concentrations in the marine environment near background values for naturally occurring substances and close to zero for man-made synthetic substances.;’

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:(2) Article 2 is amended as follows:

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2, Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new): (ba) criteria for assessing the good ecological status of groundwater.

Added:(a) point (24) is replaced by the following:

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:‘(24) ‘Good surface water chemical status’ means the chemical status required to meet the environmental objectives for surface waters set out in Article 4(1), point (a), of this Directive, that is the chemical status achieved by a body of surface water in which concentrations of pollutants do not exceed the environmental quality standards for priority substances listed in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council* and the environmental quality standards for river basin specific pollutants set in accordance with Article 8(2), point (c), and Article 8d(1) of that Directive.’

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point a a (new), Article 3 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new): (aa) in paragraph 1, the following subparagraph is inserted: / The threshold values applicable to groundwater shall be 10-times lower than the corresponding EQS for surface water, except in cases, where the actual risk posed to the groundwater ecosystems can be established, it may be appropriate to set threshold values for groundwater at a different level.

Added:(b) point (30) is replaced by the following:

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:‘(30) ‘Priority substances’ means substances listed in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC, that is substances which present a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment in a high proportion of Member States.’; ’

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point c, Article 3 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2 a (new): (aa) in paragraph 5, the following subparagraph is inserted: Member States shall ensure that the residents of the concerned river basin district or of the part of the international river basin district falling within the territory of a Member State are adequately and timely informed.

Added:(c) the following points (30a) and (30b) are inserted:

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:‘(30a) ‘Priority hazardous substances’ means priority substances which are marked as ‘hazardous’ on the basis that they are recognised in scientific reports, in relevant Union legislation, or in relevant international agreements, as being toxic, persistent and liable to bio-accumulate (PBT), or very persistent and very accumulative (vPvB), or persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) or very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) or as giving rise to an equivalent level of concern, where this concern is relevant to the aquatic environment, and for which measures need to be taken in accordance with Article 4 (1), point (a), point (iv). [Am. 57]

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point d, Article 3 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1: Member States shall amend the list of threshold values applied in their territories whenever new information on pollutants, groups of pollutants, or indicators of pollution, also taking into account the precautionary principle, indicates that a threshold value needs to be set for an additional substance, that an existing threshold value needs to be modified, or that a threshold value previously removed from the list needs to be re-inserted. If relevant threshold values are established or amended at Union level, Member States shall adapt the list of threshold values applied in their territories to those values.

Added:(30b) ‘River basin specific pollutants’ means pollutants that are not or no longer identified as priority substances but which Member States have identified, on the basis of the assessment of pressures and impacts on surface water bodies carried out in accordance with Annex II to this Directive, as posing a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment within their territory.;’

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:(d) point (35) is replaced by the following:

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 a (new), Article 3 – paragraph 7: (4a) Paragraph 7 is replaced by the following: / "7. The Commission shall publish a report on the national threshold values referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), one year after the Member States provide that information to ECHA in accordance with paragraph 5."

Added:‘(35) ‘Environmental quality standard’ means the concentration of a particular pollutant or group of pollutants in water, sediment or biota not to be exceeded in order to protect human health and the environment or a trigger value for the adverse effect on human health or the environment of such a pollutant or group of pollutants measured using an appropriate and scientifically established effect-based method.’; [Am. 58]

Removed:Directive 2006/118/EC

Added:* Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention and control of surface water pollution, amending and subsequently repealing Council Directives 82/176/EEC, 83/513/EEC, 84/156/EEC, 84/491/EEC, 86/280/EEC and amending Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 348, 24.12.2008, p. 84).;’

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6, Article 6a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2: The watch list shall contain a minimum of five substances or groups of substances of emerging concern selected from amongst those substances for which the information available, also in accordance with sub-paragraph four below, indicates that they may pose a significant risk at Union level to, or via, the aquatic environment, and for which the monitoring data are insufficient, except where the number of substances or groups of substances for which the information available indicates that they may pose a significant risk to, or via, the aquatic environment to be selected from is less than five, in which case the watch list shall contain all of those substances. / In addition to the minimum number of substances or group of substances, the watch list may also contain indicators of pollution. / The watch list shall specify the monitoring matrices and the possible methods of analysis for each substance. Those monitoring matrices and methods shall not entail excessive costs for the competent authorities.

Added:(da) point (37) is replaced by the following: