1.

2.

In addition to the mandate for longer-term planning in management plans and programmes of measures, does Article 7(3) of the WFD contain, in respect also of bodies of water outside safeguard zones within the meaning of the second sentence of Article 7(3) of the WFD, an obligation, similar to that in Article 4 of the WFD, to refuse authorisation for specific projects on the ground of a breach of the ban on deterioration (see CJEU, judgment of 28 May 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, C-535/18, paragraph 75)?

3.

Given that — unlike Annex V, referred to in Article 4 of the WFD — Article 7(3) of the WFD does not set its own parameters for assessing the ban on deterioration:

4.

When is a breach of the ban on deterioration, in terms of the law on drinking water, in Article 7(3) of the WFD to be assumed (see, in relation to the criterion for the ban on deterioration under Article 4 of the WFD: CJEU, judgment of 28 May 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, C-535/18, paragraph 119, and, previously, judgment of 1 July 2015, Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, C-461/13, (5) paragraph 52)?

5.

Does Article 7(3) of the WFD also contain, in addition to the substantive criteria for examination, specifications regarding the regulatory approval procedure, that is to say, is the Court’s case-law on Article 4 of the WFD transferable to the scope of examination under Article 7(3) of the WFD (see CJEU, judgment of 28 May 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, C-535/18 — second question referred)?

6.

Must the developer also commission an expert’s investigation of a possible deterioration under Article 7(3) of the WFD as soon as the project is likely to infringe the provisions of Article 7(3) of the WFD?

7.

Must it be assumed in that respect also that the investigation must have been conducted by the time of the decision taken under water law, with the result that an investigation carried out subsequently during the court proceedings cannot remedy the illegality of the authorisation granted under water law (see CJEU, judgment of 28 May 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, C-535/18, paragraphs 76 and 80 et seq.)?

8.

In the balancing of interests carried out in the context of authorisation, can the requirements and prohibitions under Article 7(3) of the WFD be outweighed by the objective pursued by the project where, for example, the purification treatment effort involved is low or the purpose of the project is of particular importance?

9.

Does Article 4(7) of the WFD apply to Article 7(3) thereof?

10.

What obligations going beyond Article 4 of the WFD can be inferred from Article 7(2) of the WFD, with the consequence that they must be taken into account in a project authorisation procedure?