WRITTEN QUESTION No. 764/99 by Alexandros ALAVANOS Failure by Greece to incorporate Court judgments on water pollution into national law
Date: 1999-03-29
Institutions: ALAVANOS, European Parliament
Subjects: Greece, aquatic environment, dangerous substance, infringement of EU law, judgment of the Court (EU), water pollution













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91999E0764

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 764/99 by Alexandros ALAVANOS Failure by Greece to incorporate Court judgments on water pollution into national law  


Official Journal C 370 , 21/12/1999 P. 0101 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0764/99by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission(29 March 1999)Subject: Failure by Greece to incorporate Court judgments on water pollution into national lawThe Commission has decided to take measures against Greece for its non-compliance with Article 7 of Directive 76/464(1) on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment and its failure to incorporate into national law Court judgments C-232/95 and C-233/95 on the pollution of Lake Vegoritis.Will the Commission say:1. which paragraph(s) of Article 7 was/were infringed, and2. whether it is aware of the reasons for the delay by Greece in incorporating the directive and the Court judgments into national law?Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission(6 May 1999)Article 7 of Council Directive 76/464/EEC of 4 May 1976 on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community requires Member States to establish emission reduction programmes for the substances of list II as defined in the annex of this Directive. This requires Member States to identify all discharges into waters which are liable to contain list II substances (Article 7, paragraph 1); establish quality objectives for list II substances which are discharged (Article 7, paragraph 3); introduce an authorisation system for these discharges which sets emission limit values based on the quality objectives (Article 7, paragraph 1); include, where necessary, specific provisions governing the composition and use of substances and products (Article 7, paragraph 4); and set deadlines for the implementation of the programmes (Article 7, paragraph 5)Directive 76/464/EEC must be implemented by all Member States. As Greece has not established the programmes under the Directive, the Commission, responsible for the implementation of the Community legislation in all Member States, brought the matter before the Court of justice, on the basis of Article 226 EC Treaty (ex Article 169). The Commission does not know the reasons why Greece failed to fulfil the obligations under Directive 76/464/EEC.By a decision dated 11 June 1998, the Court of justice declared that, by failing to establish programmes including quality objectives and setting deadlines for their implementation in order to reduce the pollution of the waters of Lake Vegoritis and its tributary, the River Soulos, and of the waters of the Gulf of Pagasitikos, by the dangerous substances within List II of Directive 76/464/EEC, Greece has failed to fulfil its obligations under that Directive, in particular Article 7. A letter of formal notice on the basis of Article 171 EC Treaty was sent to Greece on 18 December 1998.The Greek authorities notified to the Commission on 11 January 1999 measures taken in order to implement the above mentioned decision of the Court of justice. The analysis of these measures is underway.(1) OJ L 129, 18.5.1976, p. 23.