Editorial note

Council Directive 76/160 requires Member States to set the values applicable to bathing water. The Directive applies to bathing water as defined in Article 1(2), with the exclusion of water intended for therapeutic purposes and water used in swimming pools (Article 1(1)). The Directive indicates in its Annex the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters applicable to bathing water (Article 2). Member States must set values applicable to bathing waters. Such values may not be less stringent than those given in the Annex (in case of values found in column I). Values appearing in column G of the Annex are to be used as guidelines (Article 3). Member States had until December 1985 to ensure that bathing water quality conformed to the limit values in the Annex, subject to derogations granted by them and communicated to the Commission (Article 4). The Directive requires Member States to carry out sampling operations (Article 6). More stringent values can be set by the Member States (Article 7). The Directive may be waived in exceptional circumstances (Article 8). Article 9 specifies that amendments to the Directive are to be adopted according to the procedure set out in Article 11. For this purpose a Committee on Adaptation to Technical Progress (Article 10) is to assist the Commission (Article 11).

Source: Originally published in OJ L31 05.02.1976 p. 1. Amended by: Council Directive of 23 December 1991 (91/692/EEC) L 377 48 31.12.1991; Council Regulation (EC) No 807/2003 of 14 April 2003 L 122 36 16.05.2003.