Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Quality of Bathing Water"
Date: 2003-04-09
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU environmental policy, bathing water, quality of the environment

10.10.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 244/31

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council concerning the Quality of Bathing Water’

(2003/C 244/07)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning
the Quality of Bathing Water (COM(2002) 581 final — 2002/0254 (COD));

having regard to the decision of the Council of 13 November 2002 to consult it on this subject, under
the first paragraph of Article 175 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

having regard to the decision of its President of 23 January 2003 to instruct its Commission for
Sustainable Development to draw up an opinion on this subject;

having regard to the Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communication from the
Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on Developing a New Bathing Water Policy,
CdR 97/2001 fin (1);

having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 17/2003 rev.) adopted on 20 February 2003 by its Commission
for Sustainable Development (rapporteur: Mr Francesc Antich i Oliver, prime minister of the Balearic
Islands (E-PES));

whereas the Treaty on European Union favours the integration of environmental considerations into
Community policies, especially in order to guarantee sustainable development,

unanimously adopted the following Opinion at its 49th plenary session, held on 9 and 10 April 2003
(meeting of 9 April).

1. General comments

1.1.
The Committee of the Regions welcomes the proposal
for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
concerning the Quality of Bathing Water. Application of this
new legislation will considerably improve health protection
for European citizens and visitors to bathing areas, as well as
significantly benefiting the environment.

1.2.
The Committee considers that this policy can con-
tribute to coherent and sustainable economic development,
particularly benefiting citizens committed to respecting and
improving the environment. The tourism and leisure sector,
which is of fundamental importance to many EU Member
States, can only benefit from strict water quality standards
which underpin the safety and confidence of consumers and
users.

1.3.
The directive will also help improve the information
provided to consumers and users, promoting safety and a
product based on the dual objectives of protecting human
health and the environment and promoting economic and
social development.

1.4.
The directive envisages removing from the list areas
affected by natural disasters. The appalling consequences of

(1) OJ C 357, 14.12.2001, p. 51.

the sinking of ships like the Erika and the Prestige make it
advisable to extend to this kind of accident the safeguard
measures provided for in the proposal.

1.5.
In accordance with the principles underlying the White
Paper on European Governance, the Committee of the Regions
considers that the regional and local authorities should play a
greater part in the process of implementing the directive. This
would make for more efficient implementation, more closely
in line with the division of powers within the Member States,
particularly with regard to the regional and local authorities.

1.6.
The Committee stresses the importance for health
of optimum bathing water quality. To this end, providing
information to the public is an important task for the Member
States, the information on water quality should be available at
each resort in real-time. This information needs to be clear,
easily understandable, free of jargon and promptly available.
For these reasons, it is considered important that the infor-
mation should be standardised and that the opportunities
offered by the Information Society be exploited to this end.
The contribution of the local and regional authorities is
essential here. The requirements on public authorities for the
distribution of information on bathing water must be in line
with the requirements of the new Directive on public access to
environmental information. Therefore, in accordance with the
subsidiarity principle, the form the information takes should
be a matter for the local and regional authorities. The directive
should therefore restrict itself to laying down the following
minimum requirements:

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Official Journal of the European Union

10.10.2003

— general description of bathing water without reference to

2. Comments concerning the priorities of the regional

bathing water profiles;

and local authorities

— presentation and assessment of current measurement
results and rating of bathing water over the last three
years;

— removal from the bathing areas list, with statement of

reasons where appropriate.

2.1.
As the new directive on the quality of bathing water will
entail coherent responsibilities shared between the European
Union and the Member States and their regions, the Committee
of the Regions feels that it is necessary for regional and
local representatives to participate actively in the Regulatory
Committee and the committee referred to in Article 20.

1.7.
The Committee welcomes the approach adopted by
the new directive, which focuses on improving health through
proactive management of bathing areas, without restricting
itself exclusively to the necessary periodic scientific analyses.
This new approach will to a great extent facilitate the adoption
of management measures at every level by the competent
authorities. It will be possible to gear these measures more
closely to the specific situations of both fresh and coastal
waters.

The Committee endorses the classification of bathing
1.8.
areas as poor, good or excellent. Although, strictly speaking,
areas need only be classified as either suitable or unsuitable for
bathing, the further classification of water suitable for bathing
rewards the greater efforts made by authorities which are
concerned to ensure maximum water quality. Moreover, this
measure promotes continuous improvement of the state of
areas already classified as suitable for bathing.

1.9.
The Committee welcomes the reduction of the number
of parameters used in the new directive, which considerably
reduces costs but points out that the assessment procedures
may lead to unrepresentative results. The Committee therefore
calls for a more flexible procedure that can, if necessary, be
modified. The possibility of
introducing new parameters
should not be excluded, if scientific and technical advances
make it appropriate to carry out certain analyses. These
improvements could be made without the need to revise the
directive.

1.10.
The Committee is pleased to see the reference in the
directive to phytoplankton blooms and macro-algae prolifer-
ation, which the Committee called for in its previous Opinion
on bathing water policy (CdR 97/2001 fin). It also recommends
that attention be given to contamination with mucilage. The
Committee considers that further study should be devoted to
these phenomena and their repercussions for the health of
bathers, ecosystems and the quality of bathing.

2.2.
In keeping with the directive, it is essential that the
regional and local authorities participate in the design of the
channels through which information is provided to consumers
in order to increase the transparency of the information
provided and in this way boost users’ confidence.

2.3. With regard to the evaluation of the economic and
business impact, improvement of the quality of bathing water
will generate positive external effects which will have a direct
beneficial effect on public health, the economic and social
well-being of people living in these areas and the sustainable
development of the tourism sector. The Commission should
undertake further analysis,
in cooperation with local and
regional authorities, of the potential impact on the sustaina-
bility of the tourism sector. This should include investigation
of the costs to local communities of having to close bathing
water areas in order to comply with the new higher standards
proposed by the Commission.

2.4.
As the supervisory responsibilities of the Member
States are carried out by the local and regional authorities, the
Committee considers that the scope of the directive should be
restricted to bathing. The inclusion of other recreational
activities should be rejected and any references to this should
be deleted. Water quality requirements for other recreational
activities should, if appropriate, be dealt with in a separate
directive.

Despite the fact

2.5.
the Commission has made
surveys to elaborate the Directive, the Committee calls on the
Commission to undertake a more detailed and representative
assessment of the costs of implementing the revisions.

that

3. Recommendations

1.11.
The Committee draws attention to the problems
which can arise when bathing water is located in FFH and bird
conservation areas and is used by large numbers of waterfowl.
A suitable solution has to be found to this problem which
takes due account of justified leisure interests.

The Committee of the Regions calls for the following changes
to the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
concerning the Quality of Bathing Water.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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3.1.
In the light of the many measures required for the
establishment of a bathing water profile in accordance with
Article 6, these should only be required when the quality of
bathing water has been classified as ‘poor’ in accordance with
Article 9.

3.2.
In the light of the accidents involving the oil tankers
Erika and Prestige — the most recent of many accidents off
the coasts of Europe causing grave environmental damage, the
Committee proposes, in relation to Article 6, that a study be
made of measures to counter the serious damage done to
water quality and to the confidence of consumers. The
temporary removal from the list of bathing areas affected in
this or similar ways is one option which could be included in
the directive. The aim is to prevent damage to the reputation
of bathing areas affected by environmental disasters, while
ensuring that whenever an area is reinstated on the list, this is
done with all the necessary health and safety guarantees.

3.3. With regard to Article 7 (4) and (5), it is proposed that
man-made disasters, such as those involving the Prestige and
the Erika, also be considered grounds for suspending the
monitoring calendar.

3.4.
The CoR feels that flooding should be considered
grounds for suspending the monitoring calendar in view of
the adverse effect on water quality. The Commission should
be informed when the annual report on the bathing season is
submitted.

3.5. With regard to Article 12(3) of the proposal for a
directive,
the Committee calls for the directive to make
provision for the material resources needed by the relevant
public authorities, in many cases regional or local authorities,
to ensure that they have the necessary capacity for responding
to emergencies. Emergency plans should be drawn up under
Article 12 only in extremely urgent cases. The possibility of
dropping Article 12 should perhaps even be considered.

Brussels, 9 April 2003.

3.6.
The Committee propose that a ‘discounting’ rule be
added to Article 13, in line with the general comments set out
in point 1.9. Under such a rule bathing water would be
considered to be in conformity with the directive if:

— the limit values were exceeded only temporarily and
appropriate subsequent checks and analyses revealed no
further infringements; and

— public warnings were issued by the competent authorities,
or short-term bans on bathing were imposes, for the
period during which the limit values were exceeded.

3.7. With regard to Article 16(1), provision should be made
for the direct participation of the regional and local authorities
in the provision and dissemination of information on the state
of bathing water. As it is the regional and local authorities
which know the local environment and the target public best,
the quality of the information provided will in this way be
improved.

A new fifth paragraph should be added to Article 16
3.8.
laying down a practical model for the provision of information
to the public for use throughout the European Union. To this
end, the Committee calls on the Commission to finance pilot
projects in various European regions for the development of
such a system applicable to both fresh water and coastal
waters. These projects would be carried out during the two-
year period allowed for implementation of the directive.

3.9. With regard to Article 20, the Committee proposes
that the regions and local authorities contribute to the process
of hammering out the scientific and technical details of the
directive, as it is these authorities which are most familiar with
the actual condition of bathing water. It would also be desirable
for the regional and local authorities to be represented on the
committee which assists the European Commission with the
technical adaptation of the directive.

3.10. With regard to the comments on the legislative
financial statement, and with a view to carrying out the pilot
projects proposed in point 3.5 of the recommendations,
provision will need to be made for the additional budget
funding needed to cover the relevant costs.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Albert BORE