EU: Bathing water

United Kingdom

The European Commission has announced its decision to apply various stages of infringement proceedings against France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Italy, who are failing to comply with all the provisions of the EU Directive 76/160/EEC on the quality of bathing water. The decision against France relates to a failure since 1995 to monitor bathing waters for the obligatory parameter, “total coliforms”. Denmark and Finland have also omitted this parameter from their monitoring although they have bought their national legislation into line as from 1999 bathing seasons. Formal notices to Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Italy for non-compliance of certain binding standards and sampling requirements of the Directive have been sent by the Commission following reports showing persistent non-compliance in the four Member States.
(European Commission, September 1999)