EU SPECIFIC WATER LEGISLATIONS

Action programmes on vulnerable zones (article 5)

Member States established action programmes on vulnerable zones which they must adopt within one year of the designation of every new vulnerable zone (Article 5(1)) and in any event revise every four years (Article 5(7)). The Court of Justice’s analysis of such action programmes concludes that they may lead to mandatory environmental assessments . First, the Court ruled that such an action programme in principle characterises as a plan or programme subject to an environmental impact assessment under general EU environmental legislation (Article 3(2)(a) of Directive 2001/42 of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment). Second, the Court added, such an action programme “contains measures, compliance with which is a requirement for issue of the consent that may be granted for carrying out projects” which are themselves subject to an environmental impact assessment under general EU environmental legislation (Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997).

An action programme may relate to all vulnerable zones in the territory of a Member State or, where the Member State considers it appropriate, different programmes may be established for different vulnerable zones or parts of zones (Art. 5(2)). However, a series of measures, varying in scale and applicability from region to region and not constituting an organised and coherent system intended to meet a specific objective does not qualify as an ‘action programme’ within the meaning of that provision .
The Court also found that the mere fact that vulnerable zones were not designated in a sufficient way means that action programmes cannot cover all the zones which should have been the subject-matter of protection measures .

The action programmes provide for measures which include rules relating to periods when the land application of certain types of fertiliser is prohibited and that the capacity of storage vessels for livestock manure must exceed that required for storage throughout the longest period during which use in the vulnerable zone is prohibited, except where it can be demonstrated that any quantity of manure in excess of the actual storage capacity will be disposed of in a manner which will not cause harm to the environment. These provisions aim at ensuring that, for each farm or livestock unit, the amount of livestock manure applied to the land each year, including by the animals themselves, shall as a general rule not exceed a specified amount per hectare corresponding in general to that containing 170 kilogrammes of nitrogen. Action programmes furthermore include measures limiting the land application of fertilizers, “consistent with good agricultural practice and taking into account the characteristics of the vulnerable zone concerned”, such as soil and climatic conditions, land use and agricultural practices (Article 5 and Annex III).