Implementation Of The Water Framework Directive

What remains of the "class theory" following the ECJ's 1 July 2015 (C-461/13) ruling with regard to the "no-deterioration" clause?

Requirement to achieve the "good status" of all water bodies – "Requirement to improve"

As one of its main environmental objectives, EU Directive 2000/60/EC ("Water Framework Directive" – WFD), in concreto its art 4, requires all Member States to achieve – subject to several exemptions, such as the possibility to extend the timeframe – the "good status" of all surface water bodies and groundwater bodies by 22 December 2015. That goal requires the water body to be in both "good chemical status" and "good ecological status." To that end, Member States had – to the degree this was not provided for directly by provisions of EU law, such as through Directive 2008/105/EC for certain pollutants in surface water bodies – to establish which values for certain quality elements result in which status classification (to be determined for five