Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Environment - Water pollution - Directive 76/464 - Obligation to adopt programmes to reduce pollution caused by certain dangerous substances and to communicate them to the Commission - Scope - Failure to provide relevant basic information - Infringement of Article 5 of the Treaty

(EC Treaty, Art. 5; Council Directive 76/464, Arts 7(1) and (6))

Summary

`Pollution of the waters', which the programmes referred to in Article 7(1) of Directive 76/464 are intended to reduce, is defined in Article 1(2)(e) of the directive as `the discharge by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the aquatic environment, the results of which are such as to cause hazards to human health, harm to living resources and to aquatic eco-systems, damage to amenities or interference with other legitimate uses of water'. The obligation to establish programmes under Article 7(1) therefore extends to cover water affected by such waste.

Furthermore, the obligation imposed by Article 7(6) of the directive to communicate the programmes and the results of their implementation to the Commission only relates to programmes which have already been established. Therefore, failure by a Member State to provide the Commission with the information requested by it on the level of water pollution in that State in order to enable the Commission to establish the extent of that State's obligations under Article 7 of the directive constitutes infringement of Article 5 of the Treaty.