CELEX: 51988PC0708
Language: en
Date: 1988-12-22
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF FRESH, COASTAL AND MARINE WATERS AGAINST POLLUTION CAUSED BY NITRATES FROM DIFFUSE SOURCES

No C 54/4                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  3. 3. 89
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Directive concerning the protection of fresh, coastal and marine waters
                                   against pollution caused by nitrates from diffuse sources
                                                       COM(88)     708 final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 5 January 1989)
                                                          (89/C 54/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             Whereas certain zones draining to waters vulnerable to
                                                                     pollution from nitrogen compounds require special
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                protection;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130S,
                                                                     Whereas the essential objective of all provisions relating
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                     to land application of nitrogen compounds must be the
                                                                     protection of human health and the environment against
Having regard       to  the   opinion     of   the  European         harmful effects caused by the storage, and the distri-
Parliament,                                                          bution to land, of nitrogen compounds, and by certain
                                                                     land management practices;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                     Whereas the use of livestock manures and similar
                                                                     materials should be encouraged, consistently with the
Whereas the fourth programme of action of the
                                                                     protection of the freshwaters of the Community, in order
European Communities on the environment (') indicated
                                                                     to conserve natural resources;
that the Commission intended to make a proposal for a
directive on the control and reduction of water pollution
resulting from the spreading or discharge of livestock
                                                                     Whereas the second programme of action of the
effluents and the excessive use of fertilizer;
                                                                     European Communities on the environment (2) provides
                                                                     that the Commission will submit to the Council
Whereas, Council Resolution 88/C 209/02 of 28 June                   proposals relating to the reduction of nuisances arising
1988 requests the Commission to submit this proposal as              from intensive stock-rearing and regarding limits on the
soon as possible;                                                    spreading of wastes on cultivated land;
Whereas the programme also provides that the
Commission should pay special attention to pollution                 Whereas it is necessary to specify reference methods of
which affects more than one Member State at once;                    measurement for nitrogen compounds to ensure
                                                                     sufficient comparability of the measures and results;
Whereas there is a need for the benefit of Community
agriculture for certain nitrogen containing fertilizers and
                                                                    Whereas technical and scientific progress may make
manures to be used;
                                                                     necessary the rapid adaptation of certain technical
                                                                     requirements, and in order to facilitate the introduction
Whereas the reform of the common agricultural policy                 of the measures required for this purpose, a procedure
set out in the Green Paper of the European Commission                should be laid down establishing close cooperation
'Perspectives for the common agricultural policy'                    between Member States and the Commission;
identifies excessive use of fertilizers as an environmental
risk, the necessity for common action to control the
problems arising from intensive livestock production and            Whereas the Commission should report regularly on the
the need for agricultural policy to make more account of             implementation of this Directive by the Member States,
environmental policy;
O OJ No C 328, 7. 12. 1987, p. 1.                                    (2) OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 3. 89                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 54/5
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                                                   Article 3
                                                                   (1)     Member States shall, within a two year period
                            Article 1                             following the notification of this Directive, designate all
This Directive applies to the application to land of              zones vulnerable to water pollution from nitrogen
nitrogen compounds, land management practices and the             compounds. These vulnerable zones are to be identified
treatment of municipal sewage and has the objective of            according to the criteria in Annex I.
avoiding:
                                                                   (2)    When any waters flow into vulnerable zones in a
(a) the concentration of nitrate in freshwaters, both             Member State from another Member State, the first
    surface and ground, reaching a level at which it              Member State shall notify the second Member State and
    could interfere with the legitimate uses of these             also the Commission of the relevant facts within a two
    waters;                                                       year period following the notification of this Directive.
(b) the eutrophication of surface, estuarial, coastal and
    marine waters.                                                 (3)     In such cases the Member State of origin shall
                                                                  take action to designate the relevant area of land in its
                                                                  territory as vulnerable zones as provided for in
                            Article 2                             paragraph 1 above and shall take action as provided in
For the purposes of this Directive:                               Article 4 of this Directive as if the waters on its territory
                                                                  were, as the case may be, in the conditions described in
(a) 'groundwater' means all water which is below the              Annex I (i), (ii) or (iii).
    surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in
    direct contact with the ground or subsoil;                     (4)     Member States shall review and if necessary revise
                                                                  the designations as appropriate at least every three years
(b) freshwater' means naturally occurring water having a
                                                                  to take into account changes and factors unforeseen at
    low concentration of salts, which is often acceptable
                                                                  the time of the previous designation and shall notify the
    as suitable for abstraction and treatment to produce
                                                                   Commission of the details of any revision in the list of
    drinking water;
                                                                  vulnerable zones.
(c) 'nitrogen compound' means any nitrogen containing
    substance except for gaseous molecular nitrogen;
                                                                                              Article 4
(d) 'livestock'means all animals kept for use or profit;           (1)     With respect to the vulnerable zones and within a
                                                                  four year period following notification of this Directive
(e) 'fertilizer' means any substance containing a nitrogen         or within one year after each further designation,
    compound or nitrogen compounds utilized on land                Member States shall for the purposes of realising the
    to enhance growth of vegetation; it may include                objectives specified in Article 1:
     livestock manure (including the residues from fish
     farms) and sewage sludge;
                                                                   (a) take necessary measures to ensure that, for each
(f)   'chemical fertilizer' means any fertilizer which is              farm or livestock unit, the amount of livestock
     specifically manufactured;                                        manure applied to the soil will not exceed the
                                                                       amount produced by the number of animals fixed in
(g) 'livestock manure' means natural waste products                    Annex II. In vulnerable zones where special circum-
     excreted by livestock or a mixture of litter and                  stances require a greater period of time for the
     natural waste products excreted by livestock,                     achievement of these limits, the Commission may
     whether the livestock is grazed on the land or raised             agree on a later deadline on receipt of an application
     in intensive livestock units or in fish farms;                    by the Member States.
(h) 'land application' means the addition of materials to          (b) establish rules which should cover:
     land whether by spreading on the surface of the
     land; injection into the land; placing below the                    (i) periods when the land application of livestock
     surface of the land; or mixing with the surface layers                  manure is prohibited;
     of the land; or discharge into ditches or on-site
    watercourses;                                                       (ii) the land application of livestock manure to
                                                                             sloping ground;
(i)   'eutrophication' means the enrichment of water by
     nutrients, the limiting factor being nitrogen, causing
     an accelerated growth of algae and higher forms of                (iii) the land application of livestock manure to
     plant life to produce an undesirable disturbance to                     waterlogged, flooded and frozen or snow-
     the balance of organisms and to the quality of the                      covered ground;
    water concerned.
                                                                       (iv) the minimum distance to be left between water
(j)   'vulnerable zones' means zones designated by a                         courses and the area onto which manure is
     Member State in accordance with article 3 (1).                          applied;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 54/6                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  3. 3. 89
      (v) the capacity of storage vessels for manure; this          (6)     For areas outside the vulnerable zones, Member
            capacity must exceed that required for storage          States should consider incorporating in guidelines of
            of manure throughout the longest period during         good agricultural practice, the rules established under
            which the land application of manure in the            paragraphs 1(b) and 2(a) and (b), the livestock rates in
            vulnerable zone is not allowed, except where it        Annex II and the measures outlined in Annex III.
            can be demonstrated to the competent authority
            that, any quantity of manure in excess of the
                                                                                              Article 5
            actual storage capacity, will be disposed of in a
            manner which will not cause harm to the envi-           (1)     Member States will       monitor   their waters  in
            ronment.                                                accordance with Annex IV.
     (vi) the construction of storage vessels including             (2)     The reference methods of measurement set out in
            measures to prevent seepage of liquid into the         Annex IV to this Directive shall be used.
            ground and drainage by rainwater from
            buildings or surface water run-off, into the
            storage vessels.                                                                  Article 6
                                                                   The technical requirements contained in the Annexes to
(2)      In the same zones and within the same period and          this Directive may be amended by the Commission in the
for the same purposes as in paragraph 1 above Member                light of scientific and technical progress. The procedure
States shall;                                                       laid down in Article 8 shall be used to effect such
                                                                    amendment.
(a) establish maximum land application              rates  for
     chemical fertilizers based on:
                                                                                              Article 7
      (i) the rate of uptake of nitrogen by the cultivated          (a) A Regulatory Committee, hereinafter called 'the
           crops;                                                        Committee', is hereby set up to bring about the
                                                                         amendments provided for in Article 6; it shall be
      (ii) the amount of nitrogen in the soil, including                 composed of the representatives of the Member
           inter alia that supplied by the land application of           States and chaired by the representative of the
           manure;                                                       Commission.
(b) establish rules which should cover:                             (b) The Committee shall equally assist the Commission
                                                                         on any matter which the Commission may submit to
                                                                        the Committee. The Committee acts in those circum-
       (i) periods when the land application of chemical
                                                                         stances in an advisory capacity and proceeds without
            fertilizer is prohibited;
                                                                        voting.
      (ii) the land application of chemical fertilizer to
                                                                    (c) The Committee        shall   adopt  its own   rules  of
            waterlogged, flooded and frozen or snow-
                                                                         procedure.
            covered ground;
     (iii) the minimum distance to be left between water-                                     Article 8
            courses and the area on which chemical
                                                                    (1)     Where the procedure laid down in this Article is
            fertilizer is applied;
                                                                    to be followed, the matter shall be referred to the
                                                                    Committee by its chairman, either on his own initiative
(3)      In the same zones and within the same period as            or at the request of a representative of a Member State.
in paragraph 1 above, Member States will consider
taking further measures including those outlined in
                                                                    (2)     The representative of the Commission shall submit
Annex III, in order to fulfil the objectives in Article 1.          to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
                                                                   The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft
(4)      Member States shall ensure that municipal sewage,          measures within a time limit which the chairman may lay
from a permanent population of 5 000 or greater,                    down according to the urgency of the matter. The
discharging directly or indirectly into areas designated as         opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in
vulnerable zones under Article 3, Annex I (iii), shall be          Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions
treated in such a way as to ensure that the total nitrogen         which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal
content of the resulting effluent shall be 10 mg/1 or less.         from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of
                                                                    the Member States within the Committee shall be
(5)      Member States shall ensure that records are kept          weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The
of the respective total quantities of nitrogen from                 chairman shall not vote.
artificial fertilizer and animal manures applied in the
vulnerable zones per year, total area in hectares of the            (3) (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures
zones and numbers and types of livestock per hectare in                      envisaged if they are in accordance with the
the zones.                                                                   opinion of the Committee.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 3. 89                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 54/7
     (b) If the measures envisaged are not in accordance                                               Article 10
         with the opinion of the Committee, or if no
         opinion is delivered, the Commission shall                       On the basis of the information received pursuant to
         without delay, submit to the Council a proposal                  Article 9 the Commission shall publish periodic reports at
         relating to the measures to be taken. The                        four yearly intervals. If it sees fit, the Commission shall
         Council shall act by a qualified majority.                       submit proposals to the Council in the light of these
                                                                          reports.
     (c) If, within three months of the proposal being
         submitted to it, the Council has not acted, the
         proposed measures shall be adopted by the                                                     Article 11
         Commission.
                                                                          The Member States shall bring into force the laws, regu-
                              Article 9                                   lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
Member States shall within four years of notification of                  with this Directive within two years of its notification.
                                                                          They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
this Directive and every four years thereafter submit a
report to the Commission containing the information
outlined in Annex V and any other relevant information                                                 Article 12
required by the Commission at least six months before
such a report becomes due.                                                This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                                                                   ANNEX I
              Vulnerable zones are those areas of land which drain directly or indirectly into one or more of the
              following waters:
                 (i) surface freshwaters intended for the abstraction of drinking water which could contain more than 50
                     mg/1 nitrate if protective action is not taken;
                (ii) groundwaters intended for the abstraction of drinking water which contain more than 50 mg/1 nitrate
                     or could contain more than 50 mg/1 nitrate if protective action is not taken;
               (iii) natural freshwater lakes, other natural freshwater bodies, estuaries, coastal waters and seas which are
                     found to be eutrophic or which in a short time may become eutrophic if protective action is not taken.
                                                                   ANNEX II
                   Maximum number of manure producing animals per hectare of land available for manure spreading
                                         Animals                                    Maximum number of animals
                                                                                            per hectare (')
               Dairy cows                                                                           2
              Young stock or beef cattle                                                            4
              Fattening pigs                                                                      16
              Sows with piglets                                                                     5
              Turkeys, ducks                                                                     100
              Laying hens                                                                        133
              Young hens, 0—16 weeks                                                             285
              (l) Numbers are not cumulative.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 54/8                                Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s          3. 3. 89
                                                                   ANNEX      III
                  Measures to be considered in the elaboration of action programmes referred to in Article 4 (3)
            1. The restriction or banning of the ploughing in of vegetables.
           2. Prevention of downward water movement beyond the crop root systems in irrigation systems.
            3. The use of crop rotation systems and catch crops.
           4. Covering of the soil by a crop or other vegetation for as long as possible.
           5. The setting aside, or re-forestation, of agricultural land.
           6. The diversification of agriculture.
           7. The continuous training and education of farmers and producers.
           8. Scientific and agronomic research on the behaviour of nitrogen in the soil and on crops.
                                                                  ANNEX      IV
           Monitoring Frequency
           1. For the purpose of designating and revising the designation of vulnerable zones, Member States shall:
               (a) within two years following notification of the Directive, monitor the nitrate concentration in
                   freshwaters over the period of one year:
                    (i) at surface water sampling stations which are representative of the catchment basins of Member
                        States, at least monthly and more frequently during the spring flood;
                   (ii) at sampling stations which are representative of the groundwater aquifers of Member States, at
                        least monthly;
               (b) repeat the monitoring programme outlined in 1 (a) at intervals of at least four years, except for
                   those sampling stations where the nitrate concentration in all previous samples has been below
                   25 mg/1 and no new factor likely to increase the nitrate content has appeared, in which cases the
                   monitoring programme need only be repeated every six years;
               (c) review the eutrophic state of their surface, estuarial and coastal waters every three years.
           2. For designated vulnerable zones Member States will draw up suitable monitoring programmes in order
               to assess the effectiveness of measures outlined in Article 4.
           3. Reference methods of measurement
               (a) Fertilizer (excluding livestock manures)
                   Method of measurement of nitrogen compounds must be carried out in accordance with Council
                   Directive 77/535/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to methods
                   of sampling and analysis for fertilizers (').
               (b) Freshwaters
                   The nitrate concentration of freshwaters will be measured in accordance with Article 4 paragraph 3
                   of Council Decision 77/759/EEC (2)
           (') OJ No L 213, 22. 8. 1977, p. 1.
           O OJ No L 334, 24. 12. 1977, p. 29.
 ---pagebreak--- ^ 0 5 ^                                         C^ffici^lJourn^lof       r^Enronc^nCornrnunin^                                ^oC^^B^
        r h e r e p o r t t o theOOommissionshallcontain^
        ^     a m a p s h o w i n g t h e l o c a t i o n o f thedesignatedvulnerablezones,distinguishingbetweenexistingand
              new zones and indicating, in each case, the paragraph in Annex t under which the zone was
              designated^
        dO a map showing the location of all sampling points^
        ^     the results of the monitoring carried out under Article^and in accordance with Annex tV^
        ^d^the rules described in Article 4 , p a r a g r a p h i a ^
        ^     the maximum application rates as described in Article 4, paragraph 2 ^                   and rules described in
              Articled, p a r a g r a p h e d ^
        t^ the records maintained in accordance with Article^paragraph^.