Commission Directive 2014/101/EU of 30 October 2014 amending Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy⁽¹⁾, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 20(1) thereof,

Whereas:

1. The quality and comparability of the methods used for the monitoring of type parameters generated under Member States responsibility to perform water ecological monitoring pursuant to Article 8 of Directive 2000/60/EC should be ensured.

2. Section 1.3.6 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC requires that methods used for the monitoring of type parameters conform to the international standards listed therein or such other national or international standards which will ensure the provision of data of an equivalent scientific quality and comparability. The international standards listed in Annex V were those available at the time of adoption of that Directive.

3. Since the publication of Directive 2000/60/EC, a number of new standards have been published by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), some of them jointly with the International Standards Organisation, addressing biological sampling of phytoplankton, macrophytes and phytobenthos, benthic invertebrates, fish and hydromorphological characteristics. Those standards should be added to Section 1.3.6 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC.

4. As a result of the continued process of development of new standards and update of existing ones, some of the standards listed in Section 1.3.6 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC are no longer published by CEN Member Bodies and should therefore be removed.

5. Two standards (EN ISO 8689-1:1999 and EN ISO 8689-2:1999 9) listed in Section 1.3.6 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC addressed biological classification and not monitoring; they have been taken into account subsequently when developing protocols for setting class boundaries under the Common Implementation Strategy related to the Directive and can now be removed.

6. Directive 2000/60/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

7. The measures provided for in this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 21(1) of Directive 2000/60/EC,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: