Article 16

1. The European Parliament and the Council shall adopt specific measures against pollution of water by individual pollutants or groups of pollutants presenting a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment, including such risks to waters used for the abstraction of drinking water. For those pollutants, measures shall be aimed at the progressive reduction of priority substances, as defined in Article 2(30), and at the cessation or phasing-out of discharges, emissions and losses of priority hazardous substances, as defined in Article 2(30a). Such measures shall be adopted acting on the proposals presented by the Commission in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Treaty. 2. The Commission shall review the list of priority substances and the corresponding EQS for those substances set out in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC by 11 May 2032 and every six years thereafter, and, where appropriate, accompany the review with a legislative proposal to update the list of priority substances and the corresponding EQS in surface water, sediment or biota. In conducting the review, the Commission shall prioritise substances for action on the basis of risk to or via the aquatic environment, identified by: (a) risk assessment carried out under Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 15 ), Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 16 ), Directive 2009/128/EC and Regulations (EC) No 1107/2009 ( 17 ), (EU) No 528/2012 ( 18 ) and (EU) 2019/6 ( 19 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council; or (b) a simplified risk-based assessment procedure based on scientific principles, taking particular account of: — evidence regarding the intrinsic hazard of the substance concerned, and in particular its aquatic ecotoxicity and human toxicity via aquatic exposure routes, — evidence from monitoring of widespread environmental contamination, including monitoring data reported by the Member States to the Commission in accordance with Article 8b(4) of Directive 2008/105/EC, and — other proven factors which could indicate the possibility of widespread environmental contamination, such as production or use volume of the substance concerned, and use patterns. 3. In the course of the review referred to in paragraph 2, the Commission shall categorise, where appropriate, the priority substances into one or more of the following categories: (a) priority hazardous substances; (b) substances behaving like ubiquitous persistent bioaccumulative and toxic substances (uPBTs); (c) substances that tend to accumulate in sediment or in biota, or in both. In doing so, the Commission shall take into account the identification of substances of concern under other, relevant, Union legislation concerning hazardous substances, including Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 20 ), in relevant international agreements, and in relevant scientific reports. Particular account shall be taken of substances meeting the criteria in Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 where the criteria of concern are relevant to the aquatic environment. 3a. As part of the review and accompanying proposal referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article the Commission shall, where appropriate, propose the deselection of substances from the list of substances in Part A of Annex I to Directive 2008/105/EC if they no longer pose a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment within the Union and include them in the repository of harmonised EQS for river basin specific pollutants in Part C of Annex II to that Directive. The proposal shall take into account the results of Member States’ assessments of pressures and impacts on surface water bodies carried out in accordance with Annex II to this Directive. Member States shall implement the corresponding harmonised EQS if the pollutants are of national or regional concern, in accordance with Article 8d of Directive 2008/105/EC. 4. The Commission shall review the list of river basin specific pollutants and corresponding EQS in Part C of Annex II to Directive 2008/105/EC by 11 May 2032 and every six years thereafter, and, where appropriate, accompany the review with a legislative proposal to update that list. 4a. When identifying river basin specific pollutants for which it could be necessary to set EQS at Union level, the Commission shall take into account the following criteria: (a) the risk posed by the pollutants, including their hazard, their environmental concentrations and the concentration above which effects might be expected, as well as possible cumulative effects; (b) the disparity between the national EQS set for river basin specific pollutants by different Member States and the degree to which such disparity is justifiable; (c) the number of Member States already implementing EQS for the river basin specific pollutants under consideration. 4b. The Commission shall review the indicative list of categories of river basin specific pollutants set out in Part A of Annex II to Directive 2008/105/EC by 11 May 2032 and every six years thereafter, and where appropriate, accompany the review with a legislative proposal to update that list. 5. For the purpose of assisting the Commission in its review of Annexes I and II to Directive 2008/105/EC, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) shall prepare scientific reports, which shall take account of the following: (a) the opinions of the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) of ECHA; (b) the results of the monitoring programmes established in accordance with Article 8 of this Directive; (c) the monitoring data collected in accordance with Article 8b(4) of Directive 2008/105/EC; (d) the outcome of the reviews of the Annexes to Directives 2006/118/EC and (EU) 2020/2184; (e) requirements to address soil pollution, including related monitoring data; (f) Union research programmes and scientific publications, including information resulting from remote sensing technologies, earth observation, such as Copernicus services, in situ sensors and devices, and citizen science data, leveraging the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis and processing; (g) comments and information from relevant stakeholders; and (h) recommendations from the working groups established under the Common Implementation Strategy for Directive 2000/60/EC. By 11 May 2030 and every six years thereafter, ECHA shall prepare and make publicly available a report summarising the findings of the scientific reports prepared under this paragraph. 6. The Commission shall submit proposals, where appropriate, for controls to achieve: (a) the progressive reduction of discharges, emissions and losses of priority substances; and (b) in particular the cessation or phasing-out of discharges, emissions and losses of the priority hazardous substances as identified in accordance with paragraph 3, including, where appropriate, a timetable for doing so within 20 years of the designation of the substances as priority hazardous substances. In doing so, the Commission shall identify the appropriate cost-effective and proportionate level and combination of product and process controls for both point and diffuse sources and take account of Union-wide uniform emission limit values for process controls. Where appropriate, action at Union level for process controls may be established on a sector-by-sector basis. Where product or process controls include a review of the relevant authorisations or substance approvals issued under Directive 2001/83/EC, Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, Directive 2009/128/EC, Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, Directive 2010/75/EU, Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 or Regulation (EU) 2019/6, such reviews shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of those Directives and Regulations as indicated in Article 7a of Directive 2008/105/EC. Such reviews shall take into account the Commission’s assessment in accordance with Article 7a(1) of Directive 2008/105/EC. Each proposal for controls shall, where appropriate, specify arrangements for their review and updating and for the assessment of their effectiveness. 7. The Commission may prepare strategies against water pollution by any other pollutants or groups of pollutants, including any such pollution which occurs as a result of accidents.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-08-09