DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate D – Water, Chemicals and Cohesion
ENV.D.2 - Water and Marine /
Brussels, 26May 2008
15May 2008
in Centre Albert Borschette (CCAB), Brussels
Summary Record
The Commission, DG Environment D.2 (hereafter referred as COMM) invited delegates to the 16th meeting of the Regulatory Committee envisaged in Article 21 of the Water Framework Directive (hereafter referred to as the Committee) on 15th May 2008. The following Member States (MS) participated in the meeting: AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PT, SE, SI and UK. The representative from Malta indicated she did not have a mandate from the official representative or the Permanent Representation to take part in the vote so attended as observer. Representatives of Norway and Turkey also attended as observers. The list of participants is given in Annex 1.
The meeting was concerned with the following items (see the draft agenda (Annex 2) for full details): adoption of the minutes of the last meeting on 11th March 2008; adoption of the new rules of procedure of the Committee; an Opinion of the draft Commission Directive on technical specifications for chemical analysis and monitoring of water status and an Opinion of the draft Commission Decision on values of Member State monitoring system classifications as a result of the intercalibration exercise.
1 – Welcome and introduction
The Chairman welcomed delegates,especially the delegate from Turkey who was attending the Committee for the first time and informed them about the language regime for the meeting.
2 – Approval of the agenda
The agenda was approved unanimously by the Committee.
3 – Adoption of the minutes of meeting of 11 March 2008.For Adoption
The minutes were adopted unanimously by the Committee after some corrections requested by one delegation.
4 – Update of the rules of procedure of the Committee.For Adoption
The Chairman informed the Committee that it is necessary to update the rules of procedure of the Committee to take account the recently adopted alignment of the Water Framework Directive to the new comitology procedures, in accordance with Article 7.1 of Council Decision of 28 June 1999laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission, as amended by Council Decision 2006/512/EC of 17 July 2006. In addition, the amendment of the rules of procedure will incorporate two new Directives: Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration (Ref Article 9) and Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks (Ref Article 12).
The Committee adopted the rules of procedure unanimouslyafter corrections requested by some delegation.
5 – Commission Directive laying down, pursuant to Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, technical specifications for chemical analysis and monitoring of water status. Committee to give an Opinion
COMM had received some comments on the Draft Directive Versiondated 17 April which was sent out to the Committee. These were:
Deleting “and below the limit of detection” from Recital (4).
Deleting “and above or equal to the limit of detection” from Article 5.1.
Deleting “Where the amounts of physico-chemical or chemical measurands in a given sample are below the limit of detection, the measurement results shall be set to half of the value of the limit of detection concerned for the calculation of mean values.” from Article 5.2.
In response to comments on having too specific a date for entry into force (22 December 2010), Article 7.1 now reads “….at the latest two years after its entry into force.”
The Draft Directive Version 6 May was now to be considered by the Committee for an Opinion.
After circulating this version COMM had received a proposal to change the definition of uncertainty of measurement in line with an ISO definition (ISO Guide 99 2007). COMM accepted this change as the new definition is broader and covers systematic as well as random errors.
The Chairman asked the Committee if these changes are now acceptableor if there were any further points?
After discussion it was agreed that Article 2.1 should be reworded as: “‘limit of detection’ means the output signal or concentration value above which it can be affirmed…..”.
The Chairman askedthe Committee to express its opinion in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 21(3) of Directive 2000/60/EC as amended by Directive 2008/32/EC (cf. Article 2, paragraph 2 of the rules of procedure of the WFD Committee).Result of the vote: 294 votes in favour, 0 against, 0 abstentions. 51 votes were not present.
6 – Commission Decision establishing, pursuant to Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the values of the MemberState monitoring system classifications as a result of the intercalibration exercise. Committee to give an Opinion
COMM had received from delegates a number of minor changes to the draft Decision text version dated 30 April and these were described by COMM to the Committee. In addition, after discussions with the countries concerned, the Commission proposes to delete from the Annex to the Decision the results for macroinvertebrates for Baltic Sea type B12b due to the low confidence of the comparisons made.
The Chairman asked for further comments and questions on the updated draft.
Delegates discussed and agreed a number of other minor editorial amendments to the text.
The Chairman asked the Committee to express its opinionin accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 21(3) of Directive 2000/60/EC as amended by Directive 2008/32/EC (cf. Article 2, paragraph 2 of the rules of procedure of the WFD Committee). Result of the vote: 294 votes in favour, 0 against, 0 abstentions. 51 votes were not present.
In addition, the Committee agreed to attach to the minutes of the meeting the following documents:
-Guidelines to translate the intercalibration results into the national classification systems and to derive reference conditions: this document includes important guidelines for the application of the intercalibration decision
-Intercalibration Work Programme 2008-2011: this document includes a work programme to complete the intercalibration exercise for all quality elements and all countries. The document contains a general introduction summarising the results to date, identifying the main gaps and establishing the working method and a general calendar for the completion of the work. Specific working plans for the Geographical Intercalibration Groups (GIGs) are included as an annex of the Work Programme 2008-2011 and constitute a “living document” that will evolve according to the activities of the GIGs.
Finally, the Technical report providing all details of the technical work can be found at
ANNEX 1: List of participants
MemberState / OrganisationAustria / Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
Belgium / Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (VMM)
DG Ressources Naturelles Wallonie
Marine Environment Service
DG Environment
Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment
Bulgaria / Ministry of Environment and Water
Cyprus / Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment - Water Development Department
CzechRepublic / Ministry of Environment
Denmark / Danish Agency for Spatial and Environmental Planning
Estonia / Ministry of Environment
Finland / Ministry of Environment
France / Ministère de l'écologie, de l'énergie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire
Germany / Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit
Ministerium für Landwirtschaft, Naturschutz und Umwelt - Thüringen
Greece / Ministry of Physical Planning and Public Works
Hungary / Ministry of Environment and Water
Ireland / Department of the Environment and Local Government
Italy / Ministry of Environment
Latvia / Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development
Lithuania / Environment Protection Agency
Luxembourg / Administration de la Gestion de l'Eau
Malta / Malta Environmental Protection Agency
Netherlands / Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water management
Rijkswaterstaat
Portugal / Institut for Water
Slovenia / Ministry of Environment and Spatial planning
Spain / Ministry of Environment, and Rural and Marine Affairs
Sweden / Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
United Kingdom / Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Scottish Executive
OBSERVERS
Country / OrganisationNorway / Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management
Turkey / Ministry of the Environment
ANNEX 2: Agenda
/ EUROPEAN COMMISSIONDIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate D – Water, Chemicals and Cohesion
ENV.D.2 - Water and Marine /
Brussels, 15 May 2008
ENV – COM150508 - 1
15 May 2008 from 14:00 to 18:00
in Centre Albert Borschette (CCAB), Brussels
Room 1B
Agenda
Agenda items / Action / Report by1 – Welcome and introduction
2 – Approval of the agenda / COM
3 – Adoption of the minutes of meeting of 11 March 2008 / Adoption / COM
4 – Update of the rules of procedure of the Committee / Adoption* / COM
5 – Commission Directive laying down, pursuant to Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, technical specifications for chemical analysis and monitoring of water status(work programme item number 2) / Opinion** / COM
6 – Commission Decision establishing, pursuant to Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the values of the MemberState monitoring system classifications as a result of the intercalibration exercise (work programme item number 1) / Opinion** / COM
7 – Other issues
–Nextmeeting
* In accordance with Article 7.1 of Council Decision of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission, as amended by Council Decision 2006/512/EC of 17 July 2006, and taken into account the adoption of Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration, Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks and Directive 2008/32/EC amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission. Simple majority vote of the members of the Committee will apply for the adoption of the rules of procedure.
** Drafts measures to be taken in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 21 of Directive 2000/60/EC as amended by Directive 2008/32/EC (cf. Article 2, paragraph 2 of the rules of procedure of the WFD Committee).
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