Brussels, 22/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Poland has been brought before the Court of Justice of the EU - the third stage of the infringement proceedings - because it persists in not fully respecting EU legislation on water, despite several calls to order. On 21 February, the European Commission decided to take a step in the infringement proceedings against this member state for dereliction in its duty correctly to transpose into its internal law the framework directive on water (directive 2000/60/EC), which lays down the framework for an integrated management of water resources in the hydrographic districts of the entire European union.
There are several gaps in the Polish legislation. The Commission is particularly concerned at the country's failure to transpose Appendix II to the directive, which describes the system of characterisation for surface and subterranean waters, and a number of omissions in its transposition of Appendix III, which should contain specifications and points of reference for the analysis of the hydrographic districts, studies on the environmental impact of human activity on water and the economic analysis of the use of water.
According to the Commission, an incomplete or inadequate transposition of the appendices is likely to distort the analysis - the stage on which many of the directive's requirements are based - and could also damage the establishment of hydrographic district management plans, with potentially negative consequences for human health, water quantities and water quality.
It took a letter of formal notice in June 2008, followed by a reasoned opinion in June 2010, for the Polish authorities to revise their legislation in March 2011 and adopt a number of regulations in November 2011, but some of the problems identified in June 2010 have still not been resolved.
Readers may recall that all of the member states of the EU are obliged to protect and restore all subterranean and surface waters in order to guarantee a “good state” of the hydrographic districts by 2015 at the latest. (AN/transl.fl)