Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to report parliamentary committee draft

RemovedEXPLANATORY STATEMENT

RemovedIncreasing chemization of the natural environment predominantly due to industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural and other market-induced activities can lead to chemical pollution of surface and groundwater. As such, it poses a threat to human health as well as to the aquatic environment seriously affecting loss of habitats and biodiversity. This new legislative proposal presented by the European Commission brings forward a revision of the Water Framework Directive together with its two ‘daughter’ Directives, the Groundwater Directive and the Environmental Quality Standard Directive with the purpose to improve the EU water legislation towards achieving its overarching objective of protecting human health and natural ecosystems from toxic pollutants. Being an integral part of the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Rapporteur is confident the revision of the water legislation concerned should contribute to the implementation of the zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment in the EU.

RemovedThe Rapporteur acknowledges the conclusions of the 2019 Fitness Check evaluation of the EU water legislation with an overall assessment that the respective Directives are fit for purpose and have led to a higher level of protection for water bodies, while the fact that the WFD’s environmental objectives have not been achieved even if the deadline has been extended twice in this regard is largely due to insufficient funding, slow implementation and insufficient integration of environmental objectives in sectoral policies, and not due to a deficiency in the legislation. The Rapporteur notes also the findings in the evaluation that point at possible areas of improvement of the legislation especially in terms of enhanced protection of ecosystems and human health from risks posed by chemical pollutants as well as overcoming the implementation deficits, and it thereby welcomes how these have been translated into policy options feeding into the revised legislation text as proposed by the Commission.

RemovedThe Rapporteur, therefore, sees no need for amending the unchanged parts of the respective basic acts. However, he suggests to supplement further certain segments with the purpose to ensure the legislation lives up to the challenges posed by the new and emerging substances, supports non-conventional monitoring methods to better measure the effects of chemical mixtures, enables measures for cessation of pollution, applies a precautionary principle in setting the environmental quality standards for controversial substances like glyphosate, enhances monitoring programmes in line with the polluter pays principle, and ensures effective access to justice in case of breaches of the WFD.

RemovedIn this regard, the following elements are of the main concern for the Rapporteur:

RemovedEmerging and new substances

RemovedThe watch lists are established for surface and groundwater pollutants of emerging and new nature as a monitoring pre-phase before those substances are listed as priority substances. Considering the fast evolving pace of chemicals that appear in the natural environment and have the potential, as pollutants, to cause significant risks to human health and the aquatic life, the extent of substances to appear on those watch lists should not be limited. In addition, taking into consideration the potential risks micro-plastics and antimicrobial resistance genes, both as emerging substances, present to human health, a deadline should be determined for identifying suitable monitoring methods for those substances in order to include those substances on the watch lists.

RemovedEBM

RemovedThe Rapporteur supports the intent to deploy advanced monitoring methods like the effect-based monitoring (EBM) which is more efficient in determining the impact of complex mixtures of chemicals on water quality. However, considering that important advancement have already been made in applying these methods and that under the present revision further comparison between this new methodology and the conventional ones is expected to determine the EBM as a reliable screening method, the Rapporteur suggests specific provisions that will enable extension and application of the EBM also to additional groups of substances whose combined effects of toxicants co-occurring in the environment shall be assessed and trigger values established using the effect-based monitoring methods.

RemovedEQS for glyphosate

RemovedGlyphosate is the most frequently used herbicide within the Union for agricultural use. As an active substance it has raised serious concerns in terms of its impact on human health and aquatic toxicity. The market authorisation for glyphosate has been temporarily extended until December 2023, while the European Food Safety Authority is about to release a complex and thorough reassessment of this active substance in July 2023. Various recent scientific studies emphasize the introduction of an EQS that is considerably lower than the threshold value determined in the amending Directive. Taking into consideration these circumstances and with the purpose to ensure the good chemical status of the majority of Union waters, the following EQS for glyphosate should be adopted based on a precautionary principle: a common and unified AA-EQS of 0,1 μg/L for inland surface waters; AA-EQS of 0,01 μg/L for other surface waters.

RemovedPhase-out of priority hazardous substances

RemovedThe Rapporteur sees revoking the current provision in the Article 16(6) WFD on the 20-year deadline for the phase-out of priority hazardous substances as an unnecessary backtrack. The Rapporteur is confident that the phasing out obligation is one of the main objectives of the WFD and it is only enforceable if it is linked to a clear deadline. The provision as such should therefore remain intact.

RemovedExtended producer responsibility

RemovedIntroducing the provision on extended producer responsibility would, similarly to the one included already in the Urban Waste Water Directive, ensure the respective legislation lives up to the polluter pays principle particularly when it comes to financing of monitoring programmes, which, for the time being, rest solely on the national budgets. The application of such a provision is relevant furthermore, when it comes to providing monitoring for emerging and new pollutants as well as in deploying more advanced and non-conventional monitoring methods.

RemovedAccess to justice

RemovedThe Rapporteur proposes to enhance the provision on access to justice in environmental matters by concretely defining this right within the relevant legislation and thereby ensuring national courts across the Union abide by this provision making possible for the applicants to be able to rely on national laws when challenging decisions by public authorities that are in breach of the WFD. Such an endeavour would contribute to the actual implementation of the Commission’s commitments, under its communication from 14 October 2020 on improving access to justice in environmental matters, to take action to improve access to justice before national courts in all Member States for citizens and environmental NGOs who have specific concerns about the compatibility with environmental law of administrative acts with effects on the environment.