Brussels, 25/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided to present an case against Denmark before the Court of Justice of the European Communities for failure to respect the Directive (76/160/EEC) on the quality of bathing water. It also decided to open a procedure against Belgium for it to comply with a ruling by the Court from last 25 May calling on it to follow the provisions of the Directive in question.
With regards to Denmark, the Commission decided to act because this country has not ensured the conformity of some of its bathing waters with the limit level in the Directive. Moreover, Denmark has not taken the measures necessary to ensure that the minimum Community requirements in terms of sampling are met.
The case of Belgium is different. Condemned by the Court for having omitted to notify a large number of inland bathing sites and for not having taken the measures necessary to guarantee the respect of the limit levels in these sites, it still has not presented corrective measures. A warning was thus sent to it by the Community Executive for its to conform with the Court's ruling. Based on Article 238 of the Treaty, the procedure foresees that the Commission proposes to the Court to inflict a fine on the Member State concerned if it continues to fail in its obligations after a second ruling by the Court.