Brussels, 07/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has sent formal notices (first warning) to eleven Member States which have removed bathing sites from their official lists and thereby avoided having to apply EU rules to protect the health of bathers. The Member States in question are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. In total, some 7,000 bathing sites have been affected. From the annual reports submitted by Member States, the Commission observed that, between the early 90s and 2004, many previously recognised bathing waters had been dropped without explanation from the list of monitored bathing areas. The Commission is concerned that some Member States have opted to close bathing sites instead of cleaning them up. In a recent case involving Belgium (in May 2000), the Court of Justice established that the “de-recognition” or de-listing of bathing sites must be properly explained and justified, and should not be a response to water pollution. The directive “is helping to ensure that millions of bathers can enjoy clean bathing water. Failing to clean up the polluted bathing sites is both against the letter and the spirit of the law,” said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.