Water policy: establishment of environmental quality standards (EQS)

The Commission notes that the European Parliament adopted a compromise package consisting of 18 amendments which had been agreed with the Council in view of reaching a second reading agreement.

These amendments concern mainly the following:

• addition of reporting obligations regarding measures taken with a view to reducing the extent of mixing zones;
• the inclusion of sediment and biota in the inventories of emissions, discharges and losses;
• the development of technical guidelines through comitology for mixing zones and inventories;
• an article on reporting and review;
• an article on the future review of Annex X of the WFD;
• amendments to a number of recitals.

The Commission accepts all these amendments as they are in line with the overall purpose and the general characteristics of the proposal.