69That said, the view should be taken, as the Commission has done, that there is ‘deterioration of the status’ of a body of surface water, within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a)(i) of Directive 2000/60, as soon as the status of at least one of the quality elements, within the meaning of Annex V to the directive, falls by one class, even if that fall does not result in a fall in classification of the body of surface water as a whole. However, if the quality element concerned, within the meaning of that annex, is already in the lowest class, any deterioration of that element constitutes a ‘deterioration of the status’ of a body of surface water, within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a)(i).
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