Report for the Hearing in Case C-290/89
I — Facts and procedure
1. Community legal background
Council Directive 75/440/EEC of 16 June 1975 concerns, according to Article 1 thereof, the quality requirements which surface fresh water used or intended for use in the abstraction of drinking water must meet after application of appropriate treatment.
It fixes parameters defining the quality of surface water. The value of those parameters is defined by a Council Directive 79/869/EEC of 9 October 1979 which, according to Article 1 thereof, concerns the reference methods of measurement and frequencies of sampling and analysis for the parameters listed in Annex II to Directive 75/440.
Article 10 of Directive 75/440 and Article 13 of Directive 79/869 provide that Member States are to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions needed in order to comply with the directive within two years of its notification and that they are forthwith to inform the Commission thereof.
The directives were notified to the Kingdom of Belgium on 18 June 1975 and 19 October 1979, respectively, so that the abovementioned period expired on 18 June 1977 and 19 October 1981, respectively.
2. Background to the dispute
By letter dated 8 December 1986, addressed to the Belgian Government, the Commission sought information on the effective application of the two directives.
The Commission therefore requested the Belgian Government to reply to the following questions.
Since there was no reply to the request for information, the Commission, by letter dated 6 August 1987, gave the Belgian Government formal notice to submit its observations within a period of two months on the subject of its failure to implement the provisions of Directives 75/440 and 79/869 and Article 5 of the Treaty. There was no reply to that letter.
On 25 May 1988, the Commission issued a reasoned opinion pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 169 of the Treaty to which there was also no reply.
Finally, the Commission brought the present action for failure to fulfil obligations.
II — Written procedure and forms of order sought by the parties
The Commission's application was registered at the Court Registry on 19 September 1989.
The written procedure followed the normal course. Upon hearing the report of the Judge-Rapporteur and the views of the Advocate General, the Court decided to open the oral procedure without any preparatory inquiry.
The Commission claims that the Court should:
The Kingdom of Belgium did not seek any form of order.
III — Pleas in law and arguments of the parties
The Commission claims that it is not in a position to verify whether Directives 75/440 and 79/869 have been correctly transposed into national law, since the Belgian Government has never notified the laws, regulations and administrative provisions by which transposition has been effected, as required by Article 10 of Directive 75/440 and Article 13 of Directive 79/869.
From the information supplied by the Kingdom of Belgium in its defence, the Commission observes that the directives do not have to be applied in the Brussels Region.
As regards the Flemish Region, the Commission states that the Belgian Government has never notified the circulars and proposals referred to in its defence, in breach of the obligation imposed on it by Article 10 of Directive 75/440 and Article 13 of Directive 79/869. In any event, the Belgian Government does not reply to question (g) in the letter of 8 December 1986.
As regards the Walloon Region, the Commission observes that, in manifest breach of Article 8 of Directive 79/869, the defence contains not the slightest reply to the questions relating to the application of the two directives raised by the Commission in the abovementioned letter.
The Commission admits that, apart from Article 4(2) of Directive 75/440, that directive has been correctly transposed by the Walloon Region. That is not so as regards Directive 79/869, since the decision of the Walloon Executive of 20 July 1989 relates to a different directive, namely Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980, relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (Official Journal 1980 L 229, p. 11).
The Belgian Government states, first of all, that the transposition into national law of the abovementioned directives is, in Belgium, a matter for the regions by virtue of the Law of 8 August 1980. It considers that the measures necessary for transposing the two directives into Belgian law have been adopted, at least from 1 January 1990.
The Brussels Region has no surface water intended for use as drinking water. It is therefore not necessary to transpose the directives, especially since it will not be possible to produce drinking water from surface water.
As regards the Flemish Region, Directive 75/440, and especially Articles 2, 3 and 4 thereof, has been fully transposed into Belgian law by:
The Belgian Government states that the decree was supplemented by a general hydrographie map showing the designated waters and by the following ministerial circulars:
In the Flemish Region, according to the Belgian Government, Article 2 of Directive 75/440 was transposed into Belgian Law by the Royal Decree of 25 September 1984, the Decree of the Flemish Executive of 21 October 1987 and by Ministerial Circular AW/87-3 of 29 January 1988. Article 3 of the directive was transposed by the Decree of the Flemish Executive of 21 October 1987 and Ministerial Circular AW/87-3 of 29 January 1988. The systematic plan of action provided for by Article 4 of Directive 75/440 is covered by the purification plan for waste water (Ministerial Circular AW/87-3).
The Belgian Government observes that, in the Flemish Region, Directive 79/869 was transposed by the Law of 24 May 1983 and by the Royal Decree of 25 September 1984. Circular AW/87-3 fixes the frequency of sampling and analysis of each parameter for each place of extraction.
As regards question (g) put by the Commission in its letter of 8 December 1986, the Belgian Government states that the reference methods of measurement referred to in the annex to Directive 79/869, the values for the limit of detection and the precision and accuracy of the methods of measurement are governed by Circular AW/87-3 which determines the fixing of the frequency of sampling and the analysis of each parameter at each sampling point.
Finally, as regards the Walloon Region, the Belgian Government states that Directive 75/440 was implemented by a decree of the Walloon Executive of 20 July 1989 which has not yet been published; Article 4(2) of the directive is the subject of a draft decree submitted to the Walloon Regional Council and on 20 July 1989 the Walloon Executive adopted a decree relating to the transposition of Directive 79/869 and Directive 80/778/EEC. That decree has not yet been published.
The Belgian Government adds that the Decree of 7 November 1985, on the basis of which the decrees of the Walloon Executive were published, was notified to the Commission in the usual way.
1 Language of the case: Dutch.