Article 9 of the eu Water Framework Directive

Article 9 of the eu Water Framework Directive ( wfd ) requires Member States to take account of the principle of recovery of the costs of water services, including environmental and resource costs ( erc s). Whilst legally the Member States have broad scope for discretion when applying Article 9, the idea that the eu legislator has effectively assigned the Member States a mathematical task to determine the level of cost recovery achieved for environmental and resource costs is increasingly gaining ground in the Common Implementation Strategy ( cis ) process. The present paper shows that this strict interpretation of taking account of environmental and resource costs has no basis in Article 9, is conceptually misleading, and could even prove counter-productive for the practical application of water protection.