Commission of the European Communities v Federal Republic of Germany.
Date: 1999-11-11
27 As regards the need for programmes to be drawn up in respect of the substances at issue, it should be noted that even if they are List I substances  the Council has not yet determined emission limit values, as provided for in Article 6 of the directive. Those substances are therefore to be provisionally treated as List II substances governed by Article 7 of the directive (see inter alia Case C-207/97 Commission v Belgium [1999] ECR I-275, paragraphs 34 and 35).
28 Under that provision the Member States are required, inter alia, to adopt programmes which include both water quality objectives and a requirement that any discharge of substances in List II be subject to prior authorisation laying down emission standards calculated on the basis of those quality objectives.
34 That argument cannot be upheld. Whilst Article 6(2) of the directive requires the Council to lay down the quality objectives for List I substances, Article 7(3) of the directive imposes the same obligation on Member States in regard to List II substances. The Community legislature therefore attaches particular importance to the laying down of quality objectives for all the substances referred to in the directive.
39 Although it is true that the Council's fixing  of emission limit values is intended to eliminate water pollution by List I substances, the elimination is not likely to be brought about by the mere fixing of limit values; in the end, as the Advocate General pointed out at paragraph 45 of his Opinion, it is entirely dependent on the level at which they are fixed.
41 As to the German Government's argument concerning the improvement of water quality in Germany, it does not show conclusively that the method chosen by it is more stringent than the programmes provided for in Article 7 of the directive. Even if water quality has improved in Germany, that result which the German authorities claim to have achieved is no different from that which they would have achieved under the programmes provided for in Article 7 of the directive, as the Advocate General pointed out at paragraph 50 of his Opinion.
42 In view of the need to draw up programmes and quality objectives as established at paragraphs 27 to 36 of this judgment, the fact that the result sought by the directive may be attained by an improvement in water quality does not dispense the German Government from its obligation to adopt the measures provided for in Article 7 of the directive.
45 It is sufficient to state in that connection that the directive itself lays down in binding manner the measures to be taken by the Member States where the Council does not fix emission limit values for List I substances. It follows that the directive does not dispense the Member State from complying with the obligations it imposes pending adoption of measures by the Council under Article 6.
46 It should be added that, in any event, failure to act by the Commission, which gives rise to a cause of action in its own right, has no bearing on an action for a Treaty infringement (see to that effect the judgment in Joined Cases 2/62 and 3/62 Commission v Luxembourg and Belgium [1962] ECR 425).
55 In accordance with the Court's case-law, programmes to be drawn up under Article 7 of the directive must be specific (see inter alia Commission v Belgium, cited above, paragraph 39).
56 It has also been held that what is specific to the programmes in question is the fact that they must embody a comprehensive and coherent approach, covering the entire national territory and providing practical and coordinated arrangements for the reduction of pollution caused by any of the substances in List II which are relevant in the particular context of the Member State concerned, in accordance with the quality objectives fixed by those programmes for the waters affected.  They differ, therefore, both from general hygiene programmes and from overall ad hoc measures designed to reduce water pollution (see Commission v Belgium, cited above, paragraph 40).
57 The Court also added that the quality objectives fixed by those programmes on the basis of analyses of the waters affected serve as the point of reference for calculating the emission standards specified in the prior authorisations (Commission v Belgium, cited above, paragraph 41).
58 Consequently, neither general rules nor ad hoc measures adopted by a Member State which, though comprising a wide range of water-protection standards, none the less do not lay down quality objectives relating to a given watercourse or area of water can be deemed to constitute a programme within the meaning of Article 7 of the directive.
61 Thus, under the directive the obligation on Member States to draw up programmes including quality objectives is conditioned not by a finding of actual water pollution by List II substances, governed by Article 7 of the directive, but by discharges of those substances into the aquatic environment.