Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Approximation of laws - Quality of bathing water - Directive 76/160 - Bathing waters - Definition - Exclusion from the scope of the directive of water of bathing areas because bathing not habitually practised there - Burden of proof on the Member States - Shallow waters - No effect

(Council Directive 76/160, Art. 1(2)(a), second indent, and annex)

2. Approximation of laws - Quality of bathing water - Directive 76/160 - Implementation by the Member States - Obligation as to results

(Council Directive 76/160)

3. Approximation of laws - Quality of bathing water - Directive 76/160 - Protection of public health - Obligation on Member States to prohibit bathing in specific areas - Scope

(Council Directive 76/160, Art. 3)

Summary

1. The definition of bathing water within the meaning of the second indent of Article 1(2)(a) of Directive 76/160 concerning the quality of bathing water must, in the light of the directive's underlying purpose as expressed in the recitals in the preamble thereto, be understood as precluding the water of bathing areas from being excluded from the scope of the directive simply because the number of bathers is below a certain threshold.

Moreover, it is incumbent on a Member State which contends that bathing is no longer habitually practised in certain areas and wishes therefore no longer to treat them as bathing areas within the meaning of Directive 76/160 to prove both that bathing is not habitually practised in each of the areas concerned and that that situation is not the result of non-compliance in those areas with the limit values fixed in accordance with Article 3 of that directive.

In that connection the shallowness of waters is not in itself a factor on the basis of which Member States may exclude certain bathing sites within the meaning of Directive 76/160. The possibility cannot be excluded that shallow waters are attractive to specific categories of people, such as the elderly or children. In any event, it cannot be inferred from the criterion laid down in point 11 of the Annex to Directive 76/160, according to which waters must be transparent to a depth of at least one metre, that only those areas in which water exceeds that depth are to be regarded as bathing areas within the meaning of the directive. That criterion merely means that the transparency of bathing waters must extend to a depth of at least one metre or, if the water is less than one metre deep, that the transparency must be total.

( see paras 28-30, 33-34 )

2. Directive 76/160 concerning the quality of bathing water, Article 4(1) of which requires the Member States, within 10 years of notification of that measure, to take all necessary measures to ensure that bathing waters conform to the microbiological and physico-chemical limit values set therein, requires the Member States to ensure that the prescribed results are achieved within the time-limit allowed and, save for the derogations provided for, does not allow them to rely on particular circumstances to justify a failure to fulfil that obligation.

( see paras 48-49 )

3. The need to protect public health does not entail any obligation on a Member State to prohibit bathing in a given area unless, because of local conditions, the extent of the deviation from the limit values set in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 76/160 observed in that area or the nature of the limit values not complied with is such that a danger to public health is involved.

( see para. 62 )