EC Urges Bulgaria to Amend Water Legislation

The European Commission said on Thursday it is sending Bulgaria two reasoned opinions related to water legislation.

The first concerns shortcomings in the enactment in national law of the Water Framework Directive. The EC has carried out an analysis of Bulgarian legislation, which revealed a number of gaps, and then sent two letters of formal notice in November 2009 and in September 2013 on the matter, the official press release of the Commission reads.

Although Bulgaria amended its legislation and acknowledged most of the deficiencies, the EC claims that the country failed to adopt all measures to correct them and some technical details such as lack of certain standards for monitoring of quality elements still remain to be addressed properly.

The second reasoned opinion concerns a failure to bring domestic legislation into full compliance with the Drinking Water Directive, which aims to protect human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of water intended for human consumption.

The EC latest action follows two letters of formal notice sent to Bulgaria in November 2009 and September 2013. While many of the original issues have now been addressed, the Commission is now urging Bulgarian authorities to correct the remainder, including, for example, ensuring that any supply of water intended for human consumption which constitutes a potential danger to human health is prohibited, or its use restricted.

If Bulgaria fails to act within two months, these cases may be referred to the EU Court of Justice, the EC states.