Directive 2013/39 - Amendment of Directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC as regards priority substances in the field of water policy - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 226/1

Chemical pollution of surface water poses a threat to the aquatic environment, with effects such as acute and chronic toxicity in aquatic organisms, accumulation of pollutants in the ecosystem and loss of habitats and biodiversity, and also poses a threat to human health. As a matter of priority, causes of pollution should be identified and emissions of pollutants should be dealt with at source, in the most economically and environmentally effective manner.

Pursuant to the second sentence of Article 191(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Union policy on the environment is to be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should, as a priority, be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay.

Treating waste water can be very costly. In order to facilitate cheaper and more cost effective treatment, the development of innovative water treatment technologies could be stimulated.

Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (4) lays down a strategy against the pollution of water. That strategy involves the identification of priority substances amongst those that pose a significant risk to, or via, the aquatic environment at Union level. Decision No 2455/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2001 establishing the list of priority substances in the field of water policy (5) set out the first list of 33 substances or groups of substances that were prioritised at Union level for inclusion in Annex X to Directive 2000/60/EC.

Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy (6) lays down environmental quality standards (EQS), in accordance with Directive 2000/60/EC, for the 33 priority substances identified in Decision No 2455/2001/EC and eight other pollutants that were already regulated at Union level.

Pursuant to Article 191(3) TFEU, in preparing its policy on the environment, the Union is to take account of available scientific and technical data, environmental conditions in the various regions of the Union, the potential benefits and costs of action or lack of action as well as the economic and social development of the Union as a whole and the balanced development of its regions. Scientific, environmental and socio-economic factors, including human health considerations, should be taken into account in developing a cost-effective and proportionate policy on the prevention and control of chemical pollution of surface waters, including in reviewing the list of priority substances in accordance with Article 16(4) of Directive 2000/60/EC. In view of that aim, the polluter pays principle underpinning Directive 2000/60/EC should be consistently...