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COMMISSION NOTICE Guidelines providing a common understanding of the term ‘environmental damage’ as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage · European Union

| 169. | For purposes of remedial measures, adverse changes will be significant and related impairments will arise if, in respect of the area or areas of the water bodies affected, they result in: — A measurable permanent or interim loss in respect of a status element such that, for that status element, the area of water affected no longer shows the status element characteristics that would have been present in that area before the adverse change or impairment took effect. To take one reference concept and one status element as an example, namely ecological status and fish fauna in respect of a river, adverse effects will be significant if a damaging occurrence such as a toxic spillage entirely wipes out a fish population in the area of water affected; — A measurable deterioration in respect of a status element such that, for that status element, the area of water affected no longer shows the status element characteristics that would have been present in that area before the adverse change or impairment took effect. To take one reference concept and one status element as an example, namely ecological status and fish fauna in respect of a river, adverse effects will be significant if, in the area concerned, the damaging occurrence causes a level of fish mortality to measurably exceed normal levels of fish mortality (without entirely wiping out the fish population). To take the example of another reference concept, namely quantitative status, and another status element, namely the groundwater level in a body of groundwater, adverse effects will be significant if the groundwater level has been or is being measurably reduced to an extent that measurably exceeds the available groundwater resource; — A measurable impairment of natural services linked to the status elements that have suffered loss or deterioration. To take the same example of fish fauna in a river mentioned above, if the river is protected for purposes of recreational fishing, an impairment will arise if the damaging occurrence causes the area of water to have a reduced availability of fish for recreational fishing; — A measurable gap between the time when the adverse effects occur and the time when, for the status elements concerned, the baseline condition is restored. To take the same example of fish fauna in a river, adverse effects will be significant if, notwithstanding the application of restoration measures, the adverse effects will result in a reduced fish population for a period that measurably exceeds periods corresponding to the natural rate of fluctuation of the fish population. Such a time-gap will represent an interim loss of a natural resource and any associated services and require compensatory remediation (158). Such compensatory remediation must be provided in respect of the entire recovery period. That period must therefore be calculated.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.