The EU Water Framework Directive stipulates the principle of cost recovery, including environmental and resource costs, for European water services. Yet a definition of member states’ precise obligations is highly controversial. This particularly holds true for the question whether the request...

Affordability of water services is a pressing water policy issue for both the developed and in particular the developing world. Despite its well-known theoretical shortcomings affordability analysis for water supply is up to now widely based on the ratio of a household's water expenditure and...

Art. 9 der europäischen Wasserrahmenrichtlinie trägt den Mitgliedsstaaten auf, bis 2010 die nationalen Anforderungen an die Entgelte für Wasserdienstleistungen am Prinzip der Kosten-deckung einschließlich Umwelt- und Ressourcenkosten auszurichten, um effiziente Anreize für die Nutzung...

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 (ERCs). Whilst legally the Member States have broad scope for discretion when applying Article 9, the...

The conclusions of Advocate General Jääskinen in the matter of the infringement proceedings against Germany, regarding the scope of the term "water services" in Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive, are now available. In these he considers that the action brought by the Commission...