Review of Annexes I and II of the Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC Balázs Horváth DG ENV C.1 Water Unit

Legal basis for the review Article 10 GWD: The Commission shall review Annexes I and II every six years. Based on the review, it shall, if appropriate, come forward with legislative proposals to amend Annexes I and/or II. During the negotiations of the Directive the European Parliament asked for this regular review

Target of the review Annex I: Groundwater quality standards – they are European wide standards currently including Nitrates and Pesticides Annex II Part A: Guidelines for the establishment of threshold values by Member States in accordance with Article 3 Annex II Part B: Minimum list of pollutants and their indicators for which Member States have to consider establishing threshold values in accordance with Article 3 Annex II Part C: Information to be provided by Member States with regard to the pollutants and their indicators for which threshold values have been established Procedure to amend: Co-decision (Art 10) Regulatory procedure with scrutiny (Art 8) in case of technical adaptations; otherwise Art 10 Regulatory procedure with scrutiny (Art 8) in case of adding new pollutants or indicators; otherwise Art 10

Key steps so far 2012: Preliminary consultation with MS and stakeholders in the framework of the Common Implementation Strategy for the WFD April 2013: call for evidence Key problems and objectives for the review have been identified A set of policy options has been proposed to tackle them

Policy options considered Problem Sub- problem General objective Specific objectives Policy options considered 1. New scientific and technical information on substances of concern might require adjustment of the pollutant lists - Ensure a high and equal level of protection of groundwater resources including transboundary groundwater bodies - Consider the latest scientific and technical knowledge - Identify substances for which uniform QSs could be set Upgrade of naturally occurring and/or synthetic substances of Annex II Part B to Annex I and establishment of a common EU groundwater QS 2. Insufficient comparability of TVs (Annex II part A) Variation and lack of transpa-rency in metho-dologies applied by Member States Enhance the comparability of the assessment of groundwater chemical status throughout the EU Move towards a uniform and transparent procedure for establishing TVs - A harmonized procedure for determination of NBLs - More precise relationship between NBLs and TVs - Exclude NBLs from the TV establishment but consider them later in compliance regime

Policy options considered Problem Sub- problem General objective Specific objectives Policy options considered 3. Insufficient transparency and reporting of information on groundwater chemical status (Annex II part C) - Base decision-making on sufficient, correct, robust and transparent information - Optimise transparency and quality of reporting and remove reporting deficits - Strengthen and clarify reporting requirements Several proposals for extending reporting through amendments of Annex II Part C Additional reporting of key elements of the compliance regime 4. Insufficient knowledge base Risks or poor status may remain unde-tected Increase the knowledge base on the occurrence and fate of substances of concern - Provide a mechanism to improve the knowledge base and make future identification of substances of concern more effective - Ensure improved knowledge base on monitoring data Establish a mechanism for systematic gathering of monitoring data on pollutants of concern, Include a reporting requirement to an EU-wide chemical monitoring database Make TV establishment and monitoring mandatory for all Annex II Part B substances

On-going activities - Public Consultation (30 July - 22 October 2013): http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations/groundwater_en.htm To collect opinions on different options To identify missing options To gather data on impacts - Stakeholder conference on 9 October 2013 in Brussels back-to-back with WG Groundwater (10-11 October) http://bunch.arcadisbelgium.be/groundwater_conference_2013

Planned timelines 2012: Preliminary consultation with MS and stakeholders in the framework of the Common Implementation Strategy for the WFD April 2013: call for evidence 30 July 2013 – 22 October 2013: public consultation 9 October 2013: stakeholder conference November 2013 – early 2014: consultation on likely approach with MS and stakeholders in the framework of the CIS Commission proposal in 2014