Better bathing waters: meeting the challenges of the revised Bathing Water Directive in Scotland

Revised Bathing Water Directive - The Challenges Ahead

36. On the 24 March 2006, the revised Bathing Water Directive entered into force. A product of more than five years of proposals, counter-proposals and negotiations, the end result presents many challenges for EU Member States. Standards are significantly tightened, timescales are short, there are new requirements for public participation in decision-making, and a raft of information must be actively disseminated to the public.

37. The following section of this document sets out the Scottish Executive's framework for meeting these challenges. It is divided into three sub-sections:

• Meeting the administrative challenges
• Meeting the water quality challenges
• Meeting the public participation and information-provision challenges.