Judgment_paragraph 9 · European Parliament v Council of the European Union (C-48/14)

9Recitals 1 to 5 in the preamble to the contested Directive provide:(1) The ingestion of water is one of the pathways of incorporation of radioactive substances into the human body. In accordance with Council Directive 96/29/Euratom [of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiation], the contribution to the exposure of the general public as a whole from practices which involve a risk from ionising radiation must be kept as low as reasonably achievable.(2) In view of the importance for human health of the quality of water intended for human consumption, it is necessary to lay down, at Community level, quality standards which have an indicator function and to provide for the monitoring of compliance with those standards.(3) Council Directive 98/83/EC … sets out indicator parameters relating to radioactive substances in Annex I, Part C and related monitoring provisions in Annex II thereto. However, those parameters fall within the scope of the basic standards defined in Article 30 of the [EA] Treaty.(4) The requirements for monitoring levels of radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption should therefore be adopted in specific legislation that ensures the uniformity, coherence and completeness of radiation protection legislation under the [EAEC] Treaty.(5) Since the Community is competent to adopt the basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiations, the provisions of this Directive supersede those of Directive 98/83/EC as regards the requirements for the protection of the health of the general public with regard to radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption.’