Mr. Conleth Bradley:

Article 9(4) states:

Member States shall not ... breach ... this Directive if they decide in accordance with established practice not to apply the provisions of paragraph 1, second sentence, and for that purpose, the relevant provisions of paragraph 2, for a given water-use activity [for example, a household], where this does not compromise the purposes and the achievement of the objectives of [the] Directive.

We have to ask what are the objectives and the purpose of the directive. Colleagues from the Commission today have emphasised that it is about quality and not quantity and they have also emphasised the margin of appreciation that is given to member states. I respectfully suggest that paragraph 4 of Article 9 is not how the Commission categorise it but is as set out in the terms of the paragraph. The final sentence in the paragraph provides that "Member States shall report the reasons for not fully applying paragraph 1, second sentence, in the river basin management plans". That is where the reporting requirement comes in. The requirement is to report when the member state is going to derogate. The key phrase, in my respectful submission, is "the achievement of the objectives of [the] Directive".