C-368/00

OPINION OF MR JACOBS — CASE C-368/00

OPINION OF ADVOCATE GENERAL JACOBS delivered on 5 April 2001 1

1. Directive 76/160/EEC of 8 December accordingly sets out what percentages of 1975 concerning the quality of bathing the samples taken to test the bathing water water 2 was adopted in order to protect the must be taken into account in order for the environment and public health. Article 4(1) water to be deemed to conform to the of the directive required Member States to relevant parameters. take all necessary measures to ensure that, within 10 years following the notification of the directive, the quality of bathing water should conform to the limit values set in accordance with Article 3.

4. Article 13 of the directive, as amended by Article 3 of Directive 91/692/EEC, 3 provides that the Member States shall send to the Commission every year a report on the implementation of the directive in the current year. 2. Article 6(1) of the directive requires the competent authorities in the Member States to carry out sampling operations, the minimum frequency of which is laid down in the annex to the directive.

5. The directive entered into force for the Kingdom of Sweden on 1 January 1995 by virtue of Article 2 of the Act of Accession.

3. The directive accepts however that bath- ing water will, under certain conditions, be deemed to conform to the relevant para- meters even if a certain percentage of samples taken during the bathing season 6. Sweden duly communicated to the Com- does not comply with the limits specified in mission reports for the years 1995, 1996, the annex. Article 5(1) of the directive

Conclusion

9. In those circumstances the Court should in my opinion:

(1) declare that, by failing to take all the measures necessary to ensure that the quality of bathing water conformed to the limit values prescribed by Council

I - 4607

OPINION OF MR JACOBS — CASE C-368/00

Directive 76/160/EEC of 8 December 1975 concerning the quality of bathing water, and by failing to respect the minimum frequency for carrying out sampling operations prescribed by the directive, the Kingdom of Sweden has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(1) and Article 6(1) of the directive;