# C_2005296EN.01000102.xml

| 26.11.2005 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 296/1 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Third Chamber)

of 22 September 2005

in Case C-221/03: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium( 1 )

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Directive 91/676/EEC - Incomplete transposition - Protection of water against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources - Failure to identify waters that are or could be affected by pollution - Incorrect and inadequate designation of vulnerable zones - Code of good agricultural practice - Inadequacies - Action programme - Inadequacies and incomplete application)

(2005/C 296/02)

Language of the case: French

In Case C-221/03, Commission of the European Communities (Agents: G. Valero Jordana, assisted by M. van der Woude and T. Chellingsworth) v Kingdom of Belgium (Agent: A. Snoecx, and subsequently by E. Dominkovits,) — action under Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 22 May 2003 — the Court (Third Chamber), composed of A. Rosas, President of the Chamber, A. Borg Barthet, S. von Bahr, J. Malenovský and A. Ó Caoimh (Rapporteur), Judges; L.A. Geelhoed, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, gave a judgment on 22 September 2005, in which it:

| 1. | Declares that, by failing to adopt:
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in the case of the Flemish Region, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 23 November 1998, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Article 4 of Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources and, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 9 November 1999, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Articles 3(1) and (2), 5 and 10 thereof, and —
in the case of the Walloon Region, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 9 November 1999, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Articles 3(1) and (2) and 5 of that directive, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive; | — | in the case of the Flemish Region, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 23 November 1998, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Article 4 of Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources and, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 9 November 1999, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Articles 3(1) and (2), 5 and 10 thereof, and | — | in the case of the Walloon Region, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 9 November 1999, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Articles 3(1) and (2) and 5 of that directive, |
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| — | in the case of the Flemish Region, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 23 November 1998, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Article 4 of Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources and, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 9 November 1999, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Articles 3(1) and (2), 5 and 10 thereof, and | | | | |
| — | in the case of the Walloon Region, within the time-limit set by the reasoned opinion of 9 November 1999, the measures needed for the full and correct implementation of Articles 3(1) and (2) and 5 of that directive, | | | | |

| 2. | Declares that, to the extent to which, in its complaints, the Commission puts forward charges other than those set out in the reasoned opinions, its action is inadmissible; |
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| 3. | Declares that the part of the complaint alleging infringement of Article 5 of Directive 91/676, in conjunction with Annex III thereto, to the effect that the Flemish Region action programme is only partly applicable in that region, in particular as regards the maximum quantities of livestock effluents that may be applied each year in vulnerable zones, is unfounded; |
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| 4. | Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs. |
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( 1 )  OJ C 171, 19.07.2003.

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