COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration and Directive 2008/105/EC on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy
Date: 2026-02-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: environmental standard, groundwater, pollution control, quality of the environment, surface water, water pollutant, water pollution, water protection, water quality, water resources

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.2.2026  COM(2026) 39 final 2022/0344 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration and Directive 2008/105/EC on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy  
 
2022/0344 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of 
the Council amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community 
action in the field of water policy, Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of 
groundwater against pollution and deterioration and Directive 2008/105/EC on 
environmental quality standards in the field of water policy 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2022)0540 – 2022/0344 COD) 

22 October 2022 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

22 February 2023 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

24 April 2024 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N.A. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

17 February 2026 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

Taking into account the overarching objective of EU water policy, the proposal aimed to: 

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increase the protection of EU citizens and natural ecosystems by proposing additional 
pollutants  and  related  environmental  quality  standards  to  be  complied  with  in 
groundwater and surface water bodies; 

increase  the  effectiveness  and  reduce  the  administrative  burden  of  the  legislation,  to 
enable the EU to respond more quickly to emerging risks. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  position  of  the Council  as  adopted  at  first  reading  fully  reflects  the  political  agreement 
reached  between  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  23  September  2025.  The 
Commission supports this agreement, the main points of which are set out below. 

(a) 

Revised list of substances and related quality standards  

On  the  core  of  the  Commission  proposal,  the  political  agreement  keeps  the  majority  of  the 
revisions proposed by the Commission. Co-legislators have however agreed a few significant 
changes: 

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‘De-classification’ of two additional substances (atrazine and trichlorobenzene) in 
addition  to  the  four  priority  substances  delisted  in  the  Commission  proposal.  
Trichlorobenzene’s use has been largely restricted, and latest data shows a downward 
trend,  while  Atrazine  has  been  banned  in  the  EU  since  2004.  These  substances  are 
hence moved from the list of surface water pollutants in Annex I (substances of EU 
wide concern) to Annex II (pollutants of national concern) to Directive 2008/105/EC. 
As a result, they will only need to be monitored and complied with in Member States 
where the substances are still of concern.  

Postponing to a future review consideration of setting quality standards for sums of 
and/or totals for complex families of substances such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, 
bisphenols,  and  PFAS  and  tasking  the  Commission  to  carry  out  additional 
methodological work on suitable monitoring methods and approaches to the setting 
of quality standards for the next legislative review. 

Pharmaceuticals  in  groundwater:  instead  of  the  quality  standard  for  ‘total 
pharmaceuticals’ proposed by the Commission, a uniform quality standard is set for 
individual  pharmaceutical  substances  of  national  concern  in  groundwater.  Member 
States  are  however  required  to  set  a  stricter  standard  where  sensitive  groundwater 
ecosystems  have  been 
(anti-epileptic 
medication) is included in Annex I of the GWD as a pollutant of EU-wide concern.  

identified.  The  substance  Primidone 

Groundwater  ecosystems:  The  co-legislators  agreed  to  insert  a  footnote  requiring 
Member  States  to  set  stricter  threshold  values  for  groundwater  pollutants  where  so 
justified based on scientific evidence and subject to a reliable method being in place 
to  identify  the  presence  of  groundwater  ecosystems.  Co-legislators  also  task  the 
Commission  to  develop,  in  cooperation  with  Member  States,  a  methodology  to 
identify the presence of groundwater ecosystems.     

Non-relevant  metabolites  (nrMs)  of  pesticides  in  groundwater:  The  agreement 
retains the ‘middle value’ of 1 µg/l and a total of 5 µg/l of from the original proposal, 
while  allowing  Member  States  to  set  a  more  or  less  strict  individual  standard  if 
justified based on available data on the toxicity of the substance. It also requires the 
Commission to adopt an implementing act to set out a (non-exhaustive) list of nrMs 
within 24 months of the entry into force, to be regularly revised.  

Pesticides  in  surface  water:  The  co-legislators  agreed  to  a  quality  standard  of  0,2 
µg/l for a sum of a subset of pesticides (around 30) that are already listed in Annex I 
to the Environmental Quality Standards Directive.  

Quality  Standards  for  a  sum  of  selected  PFAS  in  groundwater  and  surface 
water:  For  surface  water,  the  co-legislators  agreed  to  the  Commission  proposal 
setting a strict standard of 0,0044 µg/l for a sum of 24 PFAS and to add also TFA 
(trifluoroacetic  acid)  to  the  sum  of  24  PFAS, making  it  a  sum  of  25 PFAS.  For 
groundwater, the co-legislators did not retain the Commission proposal to include the 
same sum of 24 PFAS as in surface water but  agreed on applying the strict quality 
standard of  0,0044 µg/l for  the sum of 4  of the  most hazardous  PFAS.  In addition, 
co-legislators agreed on the inclusion – with a dynamic alignment clause – of a less 
strict quality standard for a sum of 20 PFAS, which is aligned to the value foreseen 
under the Drinking Water Directive (DWD). It was also agreed to consider setting a 
quality standard for TFA in groundwater (either separately or as part of a sum) in a 
future review. 

(b) 

Monitoring and reporting 

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More  frequent  reporting  of  monitoring  data  and  deletion  of  reporting  on 
progress  of  programmes  of  measures:  The  co-legislators  have  accepted  the 
Commission  proposal  to  ensure  a  more  regular  reporting,  through  automated  data 
submission mechanisms, of monitoring data. The co-legislators have also accepted to 
simplify reporting by deleting the obligation for Member States to submit an interim 
report on progress in the implementation programmes of measures, considering such 
reporting non effective and burdensome.  

Enhanced roles for EEA and ECHA: The co-legislators welcomed the proposal of 
the  Commission  to  clarify  and  enhance  the  roles  of  the  European  Environment 
Agency (EEA) in terms of one-stop-shop for collecting monitoring data, and of the 
European  Chemicals  Agency  (ECHA),  in  terms  of  supporting  the  Commission  in 
future revisions of the watch lists and of the lists of pollutants.     

the  Commission  proposal,  making  ‘watch 

Groundwater  and  surface  water  watch  lists:  The  co-legislators  agreed  to  most 
elements  of 
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groundwater  mandatory  and  streamlining  the  procedure  for  both  surface  water  and 
groundwater  watch-list  monitoring  to  make  it  more  effective  and  manageable.  The 
co-legislators also agreed to adding microplastics and antimicrobial resistance genes 
to future watch lists once suitable methods have been developed, so that data on their 
concentration in water can be collected in order to facilitate the development of a risk 
assessment methodology. 

list’  monitoring 

Mandatory  effect-based  monitoring  of  endocrine  disruptors:  The  co-legislators 
agreed  to  introduce  mandatory  testing  of  effect-based  monitoring  of  certain 
endocrine  disruptors  for  a  period  of  two  years,  while  tasking  the  Commission  to 
adopt an implementing act to set out the necessary technical specifications. The co-
legislators  also  tasked  the  Commission to  consider  proposing,  in  the  context  of  the 
next  update  of  the  lists  of  pollutants,  the  use  of  such  methods  and  related  trigger 
values, also for other groups of substances.  

Inventories  of  emissions:  building  on  the  Commission  proposal,  the  co-legislators 
agreed  to  ensure  completely  streamlined  reporting  of  emissions  of  pollutants, 
including diffuse emissions, to the Industrial Emissions Portal, thereby avoiding any 
duplication  of  reporting  since  the  information  will  no  longer  be  required  to  be 
reported as part of the river basin management plans.  

Reporting  of  monitoring  results  in maps; the use of indicators of progress: the 
co-legislators agreed to the Council amendments to include several additional maps 
to cover various combinations of quality elements and for the Commission to work 
together  with  Member  States  and  the  European  Environment  Agency  on  the 
development of uniform ‘progress indicators’.  

Joint Monitoring Facility: the co-legislators agreed to task the Commission with an 
assessment  of  the  feasibility  of  setting  up  a  Joint  Monitoring  Facility  to  support 
Member States on a voluntary basis to manage the monitoring requirements, thereby 
easing Member States’ financial and administrative burdens.    

Extended  Producer  Responsibility  (EPR):  The  co-legislators  agreed  to  task  the 
Commission to perform an assessment of the feasibility of requiring producers that 
place on the EU market products containing any of the substances listed in Annexes I 
to Directives 2006/118/EC and 2008/105/EC to contribute to the costs of monitoring 
programmes. 

(c) 

Transboundary cooperation 

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The  co-legislators  agreed  to  increased  transboundary  cooperation,  ensuring  that  affected 
Member  States  and  the  Commission  would  be  informed  immediately  of  exceptional 
circumstances  of  extreme  floods,  prolonged  droughts  or  accidental  transboundary  pollution 
and that adequate cooperation is established. 

(d) 

Access to justice  

While  this  topic  was  not  covered  in  the  Commission  proposal,  the  co-legislators  agreed  to 
introduce specific access to justice provisions in line with the Aarhus Convention similarly to 
those introduce in recently agreed legislation such as the revised urban wastewater treatment 
directive, in relation to acts and omissions subject to Articles 4, 11 and 13 (i.e. the good status 
objectives, the programmes of measures and the river basin management plans).  

(e) 

Reintroduction  of  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure  for  updating  the  lists  of 
pollutants for groundwater and surface water 

The  co-legislators  did  not  follow  the  Commission  proposal  to  move  from  legislative  acts  to 
delegated acts for future amendments to the list of pollutants and related quality standards in 
surface and groundwater, keeping the ordinary legislative procedure for  future amendments. 
They also maintained the current obligation for the Commission to make legislative proposals 
for  Member  States  to  progressively  phase  out  emissions  of  hazardous  priority  substances 
within a timetable not exceeding 20 years from the listing of the substance. 

(f) 

Use of delegated acts v use of implementing acts 

On  the  conversion  of  comitology  related  provisions  to  adapt  to  the  Lisbon  Treaty,  the  co-
legislators could  agree  on all Commission proposals,  except for the  adoption of harmonised 
reference  values  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  status  of  biological  quality  elements  in 
surface  water  (resulting  from  the  so-called  “intercalibration  exercise”),  where  the  co-
legislators agreed to implementing acts. 

(g) 

Non-deterioration clause and exemptions 

The issue was not covered by the Commission proposal. The co-legislators agreed, based on a 
Council  proposal,  to  include  a  definition  of  ‘deterioration  of  status’  in  line  with  the 
jurisprudence  of  the  European  Court  of Justice in its Weser ruling1  to  enhance legal clarity. 
They also agreed to introduce two new exemptions to the principle of non-deterioration: 
one  to  simplify  procedures  for  authorising  new  projects  which  only  cause  temporary 
deterioration and another allowing new projects or activities even if they would deteriorate the 
chemical  status,  provided  that  this  deterioration  would  be  the  result  of  a  mere  relocation  of 
pollutants from one water body to another, with no net increase in pollution and subject to the 
receiving water body already being in less-than-good chemical status. The exemptions foresee 
a number of additional safeguards as compared to the initial Council mandate. In particular, 
in  the  case  of  projects  leading  to  temporary  deterioration,  there  should  be  an  ex-ante 
assessment and ex post verification of the fact that the deterioration would not be detectable 
after one year or, for biological quality elements, after three years. As regards, relocation of 
pollutants,  the  project/activity  should  be  subject  to  prior  regulation  or  authorisation  to 
ascertain that: all possible steps to treat the water are applied prior to relocation; the receiving 
water  body  is  already  in  bad  chemical  status  for  most  of  the  relocated  pollutants  (and  in 
particular the most persistent and bioaccumulative substances) and not expected to deteriorate 
its ecological status as a result of the relocation; bodies of water used for drinking water are 
not affected; no better environmental options are available, for reasons of technical feasibility 
or disproportionate cost.  

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Case C-461/13 

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(h) 

Compliance and transposition deadlines 

The co-legislators have agreed on a transposition deadline of 21 December 2027 which will 
ensure  that  Member  States  integrate  the  new  provisions  as  part  of  the  next  river  basin 
management  planning  cycle.  As  regards,  compliance  deadline  for  newly  identified 
substances, the agreement foresees for both surface and groundwater compliance by the end 
of 2039, with a possibility to apply time-related exemptions for one more cycle, i.e. up to end 
2045.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission supports the results of the inter-institutional negotiations and can therefore 
accept the Council's position at first reading 

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