Commission of the European Communities v Ireland.
Date: 2002-11-14
32 It must be recalled in that regard that, according to settled case-law, under the system instituted by Article 226 EC, the Commission has a discretion to bring an action for failure to fulfil obligations and it is not for the Court to assess whether it was appropriate to exercise that discretion (Case C-207/97 Commission v Belgium [1999] ECR I-275, paragraph 24, and Case C-152/98 Commission v Netherlands [2001] ECR I-3463, paragraph 20).
33 It is also settled case-law that the question whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation in that Member State as it stood at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion and that the Court cannot take account of any subsequent changes (see, in particular, Case C-220/99 Commission v France [2001] ECR I-5831, paragraph 33, and Case C-323/01 Commission v Italy [2002] ECR I-4711, paragraph 8). It follows that in the present case the question of the existence of the alleged breaches must be determined by reference to the original version of the 1988 Regulations, without regard to the measures which later amended and replaced those regulations.
The plea alleging failure to comply with microbiological parameters 57 and 58 of Annex I to Directive 80/778 in public water supplies
37 Furthermore, the argument that Ireland has taken steps to improve the quality of water intended for human consumption cannot be accepted. However strenuous the efforts of that Member State to improve the quality of drinking water on its territory may have been, it must be pointed out that, in respect of water quality, Article 7(6) of Directive 80/778 does not establish a mere duty of diligence but an obligation to achieve a particular result.
38 As the Court has already held, it follows from Article 7(6) of Directive 80/778 that the Member States must take the steps necessary to ensure that water intended for human consumption at least meets the requirements specified in Annex I to that directive. The only derogations from that obligation are those provided for in Articles 9, 10 and 20 of the directive. The directive therefore requires Member States to ensure that particular results are achieved and, save for the derogations provided, does not allow them to plead special circumstances as grounds for the failure to comply with that obligation. The fact that a Member State has taken all reasonably practicable measures cannot therefore justify a failure to comply with that obligation (see Case C-337/89 Commission v United Kingdom [1992] ECR I-6103, paragraphs 21 to 25).
44 Ireland argues essentially that Directive 80/778 does not apply to those schemes. In that regard, it is true that in paragraph 17 of the judgment in Case C-42/89 Commission v Belgium, cited above, the Court held that that directive applies only to water supplied for human consumption and to water used by a food production undertaking, and that water from private sources of supply is excluded from its scope. In interpreting the term `private sources' in the context of that judgment, it must be noted that the case concerned a national provision implementing Directive 80/778 and excluding from its scope water drawn by private individuals for household use. It is clear from paragraphs 18 and 19 of that judgment that that ruling was based on the distinction between water from private sources and water supplied for human consumption. The exclusion confirmed by that judgment must therefore be understood as limited to wells and other private water sources where the water is directly drawn by the individual for his own use. By contrast, a situation where the water is supplied to several users by way of a supply network is clearly covered by the concept of supply to consumers and therefore falls within the scope of Directive 80/778. Unlike water drawn by an individual for his own use, water supplied to several users by way of a supply network undergoes extraction and distribution processes which prevent it from being individually monitored by each user.