---

Revision with unchanged content. Global fresh water scarcity and empirical studies on the bad quality of water in Europe made the Community aware of the need to protect this vital resource. Since water has no frontiers, the Member States decided to endeavour a common approach in its protection. It is the aim of this treatise to show the Community s policy and legislation in water protection, which has been evolving since its origins in the Seventies throughout the last decades. After examining the provisions in the Treaties and the most relevant secondary legislation in this field of law, the focus will be on the recent legislation, being the Water Framework Directive and its implementation. It will be shown that the Member States decided to elaborate common action plans and to exchange experiences on the bases of Common Strategy Documents. Even though these Documents are not legally binding, they have a significant impact on the practice of EC water law implementation. Their mere existence and the way in which they are created show that recent EC water legislation has an integrating effect and thereby leads the Member States to co-ordinate their actions. The result of this co-operation can be a coherent and overall protection of water in Europe. This development has to be welcomed, since it may constitute a solid basis for common solutions in this field.

---