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1. Member States shall ensure that the discharges of non-domestic wastewater into collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants are subject to prior regulations or specific authorisations, or both, by the competent authority or appropriate body. In the case of specific authorisations for discharges into collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants, Member States shall ensure that the competent authority:

(a) consults and informs the operators of collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants into which the non-domestic wastewater is discharged before granting those specific authorisations;

(b) on request, allows the operators of collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants receiving non-domestic wastewater discharges to consult those specific authorisations in their catchment areas, preferably prior to their being granted.

In the case of prior regulations for discharges into collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants, Member States shall ensure that the operators of collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants into which the non-domestic wastewater is discharged are consulted before those prior regulations are adopted.

2. Prior regulations and specific authorisations as referred to in paragraph 1 shall ensure that:

(a) the water quality requirements set out in other Union law, including Directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC, are fulfilled, and that, where applicable, the quality and quantity of relevant discharges of non-domestic wastewater are monitored; in particular, that the pollutant load in the discharges from the urban wastewater treatment plant does not lead to a deterioration in the status of the receiving water body and does not prevent that water body from achieving such status, in accordance with the objectives set out in Article 4 of Directive 2000/60/EC;

(b) the released polluting substances do not impede the operation of the urban wastewater treatment plant, do not damage collecting systems, urban wastewater treatment plants or associated equipment, and do not limit any capacity to recover resources, including the reuse of treated water and the recovery of nutrients or other material from urban wastewater or sludge;

(c) the released polluting substances do not harm the health of the staff working in collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants;

(d) the urban wastewater treatment plant is designed and equipped to abate the released polluting substances;

(e) where an urban wastewater treatment plant treats discharges from an installation holding a permit referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (), the pollutant load from the discharges of that plant does not exceed the pollutant load that would be discharged if the discharges were released directly from the installation and were compliant with the emission limit values applicable in accordance with this Directive.

Member States shall ensure that, for the discharge of non-domestic wastewater into collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants that discharge into catchment areas for abstraction points of water intended for human consumption, no specific authorisation is granted or no prior regulation allows such a discharge of non-domestic wastewater without taking into account the risk assessment and risk management of the catchment areas for abstraction points of water intended for human consumption as referred to in Article 8 of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 and the risk management measures taken pursuant to that Article.

3. Member States shall ensure that competent authorities or appropriate bodies take the appropriate measures, including a review of and, where necessary, the revocation of prior regulations and specific authorisations as referred to in paragraph 1, to identify, prevent and reduce as far as possible the sources of pollution in non-domestic wastewater referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article where any of the following situations arise:

(a) pollutants have been identified at the inlets and outlets of the urban wastewater treatment plant under the monitoring of Article 21(3);

(b) sludge arising from urban wastewater treatment is to be used in accordance with Council Directive 86/278/EEC ();

(c) treated urban wastewater is to be reused in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2020/741 or to be reused for purposes other than agricultural purposes;

(d) the receiving waters are used for abstraction of water intended for human consumption as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2020/2184;

(e) the pollution of the non-domestic wastewater discharged into the collecting system, or the urban wastewater treatment plant poses a risk to the operation of that system or plant.

4. Prior regulations and specific authorisations as referred to in paragraph 1 shall fulfil the requirements set out in paragraph 2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 27 to amend requirements referred to in paragraph 2 in order to adapt it to technical and scientific progress in the field of environmental protection.

5. The specific authorisations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be reviewed and, where necessary, adapted at least every ten years. Prior regulations as referred to in paragraph 1 shall be reviewed at regular intervals and, where necessary, adapted. If the characteristics of the non-domestic wastewater, the urban wastewater treatment plant or the receiving water body change significantly, the specific authorisations shall be reviewed and adapted to those changes.