§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out, in tabular form, how many waters, in each of the EC countries, failed to meet their obligations under the bathing water directive; how many met the mandatory water quality standard; and how many complied with the directive's guideline standards.
§ Mr. Yeo[holding answer 19 July 1993]: Drawing from the latest EC report, "Quality of Bathing Water 1992", the details of compliance with the coliform standards for seawater bathing areas are as follows:
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Meeting standards Country Failing mandatory standards Mandatory Guideline Belgium 4 35 7 Denmark 60 1,113 1,009 Germany 119 328 257
Meeting standards Country Failing mandatory standards Mandatory Guideline Greece 38 1,165 1,141 Spain 96 1,239 988 France 413 1,519 1,121 Ireland 5 85 77 Italy 342 3,691 3,428 Netherlands 6 38 32 Portugal 38 188 170 United Kingdom 97 358 163 The Commission accepts that there is a degree of imprecision in the results from the different countries, which arises from differences in analytical methods.