REPRESENTATION PERMANENTE
DE L’IRLANDE

L’UNION EUROPEENNE

RUE FROISSART 89-93
1040 BRUXELLES

AUPRES DE TEL.O2 2308530

 

FAX 02 230 3203

Ms. Catherine Day
Secretary General
Secretariat General
European Commission
Rue de la Loi 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium

SG/CdC(2007) A)

     

Roh

25. 10. 2007
SG-R-2

 
  
  
  

23 October 2007.

Re: European Court of Justice Judgment in case C-282/02
Commission -v- Ireland

Infringements References 1994/4274 1990/5220 1990/0961 1994/4077

Dear Secretary General

| have been asked by my authorities to refer again to the Commission’s
Reasoned Opinion dated 21 March 2007 (reference SG-Greffe (2007)
D/201419) with regard to the measures taken by Ireland to compliy with the
Judgment in Case C-282/02, concerning Ireland’s implementation of Council
Directive 76/464/EEC on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances
discharged into the aquatic environment ofthe Community (now Directive
2006/11/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council).

My authorities have asked me to say by way of a further response to the
Commission’s Reasoned Opinion, that Regulations have been made which
provide for a discharge authorisation system for local authority discharges to
waters. A copy ofthese Regulations in enclosed.

Yours sincerely

N“ =
e: u _
Permanent N
cc Mr. Mogens Peter Carl (Director General, DG Environment)
et  " =al Services, DG Environment)

Neon

He

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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS.

S.1. No. 684 of 2007

WASTE WATER DISCHARGE (AUTHORISATION) REGULATIONS
2007

(Prn. A7/1789)

[684] 3

16. Contents of an application for a licence or for the review of a licence

17. Certain applications to be accompanied by an environmental impact
statement

18. Procedure on receipt of an application
PARTV
CONSIDERATION OF LICENCE APPLICATIONS BY AGENCY
19. Submissions to the Agency regarding applications
20. Further information
21. Notice to certain public authorities and bodies

22. Matters in an environmental impact statement to which the Agency shall
have regard

23. Defrayal or contribution towards costs of investigations and enforcement
PARTVI

APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OR FOR THE REVIEW OF A
CERTIFICATE

24. Application for a certificate or for the review of a certificate
25. Procedure on receipt of an application
26. Review of a certificate

27. Defrayal or contribution towards cost of certificate functions of the
Agency

PARTVI
GRANTING OF LICENCES AND CERTIFICATES
28. Deciding on an application for a licence or a revised licence

29. Conditions attaching to licences, including those necessary to give effect
to certain provisions of Community Acts

30. Deciding on an application for a certificate or a revised certificate.

31. Conditions attaching to certificates, including those necessary to give effect
to certain provisions of Community Acts

32. Surrender or revocation of a certificate
33. Clerical or technical amendments to licences and certificates

34. Questioning of decision of Agency

m nn

[684] 5
S.I. No. 684 of 2007

WASTE WATER DISCHARGE (AUTHORISATION) REGULATIONS
2007

WHEREAS, I, JOHN GORMLEY, Minister for the Environment, Heritage
and Local Government, having regard to section 3(3) of the European Com-
munities Act 1972 (as inserted by section 2 of the European Communities Act
2007) (hereinafter referred to as the Act of 1972), consider it necessary for the
purpose of giving full effect to Directive 2006/11/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 15 February 2006 on pollution caused by certain dangerous
substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community! and
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’ to make provision for offences under the following regulations to
be prosecuted on indictment:

AND WHEREAS, I consider that it is necessary, having further regard to
section 3(3) of the Act of 1972, and for the purpose of ensuring that penalties
in respect of an offence prosecuted in that manner under the following regu-
lations are effective, proportionate and have a deterrent effect, having regard
to the acts or omissions of which the offence consists, to make such provision
in the following regulations:

NOW THEREFORE, I, JOHN GORMLEY, Minister for the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by
section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) as amended
by the European Communities Act 2007 (No. 18 o£ 2007) and for the purpose
of giving further effect to Directive 2006/LV/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 15 February 2006 on pollution caused by certain dangerous
substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community! and
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”, hereby make the following Regulations:

PARTI

GENERAL

Citation and commencement
1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Waste Water Discharge
(Authorisation) Regulations 2007.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation with immediate effect.

"OJ No. L 64, 4.3.2006
:OJ No. L 327, 22.12.2000

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in
“Iris Oifiginil” of 9th October, 2007.

[684] 7
(d) The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive‘;
(e) The Habitats Directive’;
(f) The Bathing Water Directive®,

Interpretation
3. In these Regulations, save where the context otherwise requires, —

“ Act of 2000” means the Planning and Development Act 2000 (No. 30 of 2000)
as amended;

“Agency” means the Environmental Protection Agency;

“agglomeration” means an area where the population or economic activities or
both are sufficiently concentrated for a waste water works to have been put
in place;

“application” means—

(a) in Parts III, IV and V an application by or on behalf of a water services
authority for a licence or for the review of a licence and includes the
furnishing of documentation and information to the Agency under
Regulation 14(7)(a),

(b) in Part VI an application by or on behalf of a water services authority
for a certificate or for the review of a certificate and includes the
furnishing of documentation and information to the Agency under
Regulation 24, and

(c) in Parts II, VII and VII an application by or on behalf of a water
services authority for a licence or certificate or for the review of a
licence or certificate;

“authorisation” means, in the case of an agglomeration specified in column (1)
of Schedule 2, a licence, and in all other cases, a certificate;

“authorised person” means a person who is appointed in writing by the Agency
to be an authorised person for the purposes of Regulation 40;

“body of surface water” means a discrete and significant element of surface
water such as a lake, reservoir, stream, river or canal, part of a stream, river or
canal, a transitional water or a stretch of coastal water;

“body of groundwater” means a distinct volume of groundwater within a subsur-
face layer or layers of rock or other geological strata of sufficient porosity and

$Couneil Directive 91/27V/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment (OJ
No. L 135, 30.5.1991)

"Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of
wild fauna and flora (OJ No. L 206, 22.7.1992)

$Couneil Directive 2006/7/EC of 15 February 2006 concerning the management of bathing water
quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC (OJ No. L 64, 4.3.2006)

[634] 9

“ecological status” is an expression of the quality of the structure and func-
tioning of aquatic ecosystems associated with surface waters, classified in accord-
ance with the normative definitions of ecological status described in the Water
Framework Directive and established by Regulations made by the Minister for
the purpose of giving effect to the requirements of that Directive;

“environmental medium” includes the atmosphere, land, soil and waters;

“environmental pollution” means, in relation to waste water discharges, the
direct or indirect introduction, as a result of human activity, of waste water
discharges, substances (including any explosive, liquid or gas) or polluting
matter (including any poisonous or noxious matter) into waters which may
endanger human health or harm the aquatic environment, and in particular—

(a) create a risk to waters, sediment, plants or animals,

(b) deleteriously interfere with the quality of aquatic ecosystems or terres-
trial ecosystems directly depending on aquatic ecosystems including
by—

(i) rendering those or any other waters poisonous or injurious to fish,
shellfish, spawning grounds or the food of any fish, or

(ii) impairing the usefulness of the bed and soil of any waters as
spawning grounds or impairing their capacity to produce the food
of fish or shellfish,

(c) impair or interfere with amenities and other legitimate uses of the
water, OT

(d) result in the water failing to meet any environmental quality standards
prescribed in regulations for the purpose of giving effect to the
requirements of any Directive relating to the quality or use of water
for the time being in force;

“European site” means—

(a) a site (until the adoption, in respect of the site, of a decision by the
European Commission under Article 21 of Council Directive
92/43/EEC® for the purposes of the third paragraph of Article 4(2)
of that Directive)—

(i) notified for the purposes of Regulation 4 of the Natural Habitats
Regulations, subject to any amendments made to it by virtue of
Regulation 5 of those Regulations,

(ii) details of which have been transmitted to the Commission in
accordance with Regulation 5(4) of the Natural Habitats Regu-
lations, or

[684] 11

“Minister” means the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local
Government;

“Natural Habitats Regulations” means the European Communities (Natural
Habitats) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997);

“pollutant” means any substance liable to cause pollution, including those listed
in Schedule 1 and, for the purpose of this definition, ‘substance’ includes bacteria
and other pathogens, where relevant and the expression “polluting matter” shall
be construed accordingly;

“population equivalent” is a measurement of organic biodegradable load and a
population equivalent of 1 (1 p.e.) means the organic biodegradable load having
a five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BODS5) of 60g of oxygen per day; the
load being calculated on the basis of the maximum average weekly load entering
the waste water works during the year, excluding unusual situations such as
those due to heavy rain;

“primary discharge point” means the discharge point with the largest volu-
metric flow;

“priority hazardous substances” means those substances or groups of substances
forming a subset of priority substances identified in accordance with Article
16(3) and 16(6) of the Water Framework Directive for which measures have to
be taken to cease or phase-out emissions and which have been established by
Regulations made by the Minister for the purpose of giving effect to those
requirements;

“priority substances” means those substances or groups of substances, identified
in accordance with Article 16(2) of the Water Framework Directive, that have
been prioritised for action by the setting of environmental quality standards at
Community level and for which measures have been established by Regulations
made by the Minister for the purpose of giving effect to those requirements;

“protected areas” means areas designated as requiring special protection under
specific Community legislation for the protection of their surface water and
groundwater or for the conservation of habitats and species of European sites
directly dependant on water and listed in the register established by the Agency
in accordance with Article 8 of the Water Policy Regulations;

“register”, except where used in the definition of ‘protected areas’, means the
register established by the Agency under Regulation 36;

“river basin district” means an area as set out in the Second Schedule to the
Water Policy Regulations;

“sensitive areas” has the meaning assigned to the term in the Urban Waste
Water Regulations;

“storm water overflow” means a structure or device on a sewcerage system
designed and constructed for the purpose of relieving the system of excess flows

[684] 13

(3) Where an offence under these Regulations is proved to have been com-
mitted with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect
on the part of, a person being a manager, director of service or other officer of
the water services authority, or a person who was purporting to act in that
capacity, that person is also guilty of an offence and liable to be proceeded
against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(4) Notwithstanding section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851,
proceedings for an offence under these Regulations may be instituted at any
time within 2 years from the date on which the offence has been committed.

PARTI

DUTIES ON WATER SERVICES AUTHORITIES AND THE AGENCY

Duties on a water services authority

5. (1) A water services authority shall, within the 6 months preceding the
date prescribed in column (2) of Schedule 2 opposite the specified population
equivalent of the agglomeration served by a waste water works or at least 6
months before the date on which a waste water works becomes operational,
whichever is later, make an application to the Agency for a licence authorising
the waste water discharges from those works.

(2) With effect from 22 June 2010 or, if later, the date on which the waste
water works becomes operational, a water services authority shall not cause or
permit discharges from a waste water works serving an agglomeration not speci-
fied in column (1) of Schedule 2 unless the discharges concerned have been the
subject of an application made to the Agency between 6 and 12 months before
such date and in respect of which the Agency has granted a certificate.

(3) A water services authority which fails to comply with the requirements of
paragraph (1) or (2) commits an offence.

Duties on the Agency
6. (1) The Agency shall be the competent authority for the purposes of auth-
orising a waste water discharge.

(2) In considering an application by a water services authority, the Agency
shall have regard t0—

(a) the requirements of Articles 3, 4 and 6 of the Dangerous Substances
Directive,

(b) the requirements of Articles 4, 7 and 9 of, and the Second, Fourth and
Fifth Schedules to, the Urban Waste Water Regulations,

(c) the environmental objectives established under Article 4(1)(a), 4(1)(b)
and 4(1)(c) of the Water Framework Directive,

(d) the requirement to protect bodies of water used for the abstraction of
drinking water,

[684] 15

(4) The Agency shall ensure that a waste water discharge is controlled accord-
ing to the combined approach and, in setting emission limits for the discharge,
the Agency shall ensure that the limits set down comply, within the prescribed
timeframes, with the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Regulations; the
Agency shall apply stricter limits where, in its view, these are necessary to
achieve the environmental objectives established for the water body, and any
associated protected area, into which the discharge is or will be made.

(5) In considering an application, where it appears to the Agency that the
discharge concerned, or the proposed discharge, as the case may be, is likely to
have a significant effect on a European site, either alone or in combination with
other operations or activities, the Agency shall cause an assessment to be made
of the implications for the site in view of that site’s conservation objectives, and
the Agency in deciding on the application shall have regard to the conclusions
of the assessment.

Alternative objectives

7. (1) The Agency shall not be in breach of these Regulations where it auth-
orises a waste water discharge allowing for the phased achievement of objectives
for bodies of water beyond 22 December 2015, provided that no further deter-
ioration occurs in the status of the affected body of water and that all the follow-
ing conditions are met:

(a) the Agency is satisfied that the necessary improvements in the status
of the body of water cannot reasonably be achieved within the estab-
lished deadlines for at least one of the following reasons—

(i) the scale of improvements required can only be achieved in phases
exceeding the deadline for reasons of technical feasibility,

(ii) completing the improvements within the deadline would be dis-
proportionately expensive, or

(iii) natural conditions do not allow timely improvement in the status
of the body of water;

(5) extension of the deadline, and the reasons for it, are specifically set
out and explained in the river basin management plan required under
Article 13 of the Water Policy Regulations;

(c) extensions shall be limited to a maximum of two further updates of
the river basin management plan except in cases where the natural
conditions are such that the objectives cannot be achieved within
this period;

(d) asummary of the measures needed to bring the body of water progres-
sively to the required status by the extended deadline, the reasons for
any significant delay in making these measures operational, and the
expected timetable for their implementation are set out in the river
basin management plan and a review of the implementation of these

[684] 17
(b) in whose functional area the primary discharge point is located,

shall compile and submit to the Agency an inventory and accompanying maps
or drawings identifying each element of the works and associating it with the
relevant authority controlling such element and the drainage catchment area
and such other information as may be requested by the Agency.

(2) The inventory referred to in paragraph (1) shall be submitted to the
Agency no later than 2 months prior to the date specified in column (2) of
Schedule 2 opposite the population equivalent of the agglomeration served by
the waste water works concerned and shall indicate the relevant population
equivalent served.

(3) On the basis of the information provided to it under paragraph (1), the
Agency shall determine and notify the water services authority or authorities
concerned of its determination as to the individual waste water works or combi-
nation of works or parts thereof that should appropriately comprise a single
application to the Agency for the purposes of these Regulations to be made by
such water services authority—

(a) as has been agreed by the relevant water services authorities, or

(b) in default of such agreement, in whose functional area the primary
discharge point is located,

(4) In a notification issued under paragraph (3) the Agency may require the
water services authority concerned to provide, by a specified date, information
in relation to any agreements, contracts or undertakings entered into between
two or more authorities in relation to the waste water works concerned.

PART III
NOTICES AND REVIEW BY AGENCY OF LICENCES

Notice of intention to apply to the Agency for a licence or for the review of
a licence

9, An applicant, within the period of 2 weeks before the making of an appli-
cation for the grant or review of a licence, shall—

(a) publish a notice, in accordance with Regulation 10, in a newspaper
circulating in the area in which the discharge takes place or is to take
place, of the intention to make the application and of the location of
the discharge to which the application relates, and

(b) give notice of the intention to make the application by the erection or
fixing of a site notice in accordance with Regulation 11.

Notices in newspapers

10. A notice published in a.newspaper pursuant to Regulation 9 shall contain
as a heading the words “APPLICATION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL PRO-
TECTION AGENCY FOR A WASTE WATER DISCHARGE LICENCE” or