
COMMISSION DECISION (EU) 2017/1583 of 1 September 2017 specifying, pursuant to Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, EN ISO 17994:2014 as the standard on the equivalence of microbiological methods (notified under document C(2017) 5843) 

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 February 2006 concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC, and in particular Article 15(2)(a) thereof,
Whereas:

(1) Commission Decision 2009/64/EC specifies the international standard ISO 17994:2004(E) ‘Water quality — Criteria for establishing equivalence between microbiological methods’ as the standard on the equivalence of microbiological methods for the purposes of Directive 2006/7/EC.

(2) Standard ISO 17994:2004(E) is outdated and has been technically updated (e.g. terminology update, clearer specifications, and addition of a new Annex on technical calculations).

(3) Standard ISO 17994:2004(E) has therefore been replaced by a more recent version, ISO 17994:2014 ‘Water quality — Requirements for the comparison of the relative recovery of microorganisms by two quantitative methods’. This international standard has been transposed by the European Committee for Standardisation in a European standard EN ISO 17994:2014. It is therefore appropriate to specify standard EN ISO 17994:2014 as the standard on the equivalence of microbiological methods for the purposes of Directive 2006/7/EC.

(4) Decision 2009/64/EC should therefore be repealed.

(5) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 16(1) of Directive 2006/7/EC,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 

(1) For the purposes of Article 3(9) of Directive 2006/7/EC, standard EN ISO 17994:2014 ‘Water quality — Requirements for the comparison of the relative recovery of microorganisms by two quantitative methods’ shall be specified as the standard on the equivalence of microbiological methods.
(2) The reference in paragraph 1 to Article 3(9) of Directive 2006/7/EC, is to be read as if any requirements imposed or discretion conferred by that provision on a member State were imposed or conferred on the relevant person.
(3) In this Article,  “relevant person” means—
(a) in relation to England, the Environment Agency;
(b) in relation to Wales, the Natural Resources Body for Wales;
(c) in relation to Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency;
(d) in relation to Northern Ireland, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
Article 2 
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Article 3 
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Done at Brussels, 1 September 2017.
For the Commission
Karmenu VELLA
Member of the Commission