Specialist Press Release (EP/SP01/2006) - January 18th, 2006

SUMMARY

The European Parliament has today approved new EU rules on minimum standards for the quality of bathing water. Whether heading for one of the UK's beaches or to one of the other 20,000 recognised bathing waters across the EU, holidaymakers will benefit from clearer, more up-to-date information on water quality as a result of today's vote.

• How will the new EU directive affect bathing waters in the UK and the rest of the EU?
• It simplifies the water tests, focusing on the two most important types of bacteria, instead of 19 under current rules;
• It will classify beaches as either 'excellent', 'good', 'sufficient' or 'poor', the 'sufficient' category being new with stricter standards thanks to the European Parliament (from 2015);
• It means water will be tested more frequently, especially when a beach is classified as 'poor' or 'sufficient';
• Information will be posted on the internet almost instantly, instead of being up to one year out-of-date under the current system (from 2013);
• New, standard signs will be devised which must be placed at all bathing sites to indicate the quality of the water (from 2015).

Today's vote is the culmination of discussions between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, in which MEPs stressed the need to tighten standards for the new 'sufficient' category and the need for quality information to the public.

The new standards will replace the existing 1976 Directive. This bathing water management programme will be introduced over a 13 year period, starting in 2008.

CONTACT

Simon Duffin, Press Officer, European Parliament UK Office, telephone: 020 7227 4300, email: simon.duffin@europarl.europa.eu

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