Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe

I (Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is obligatory) DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1) The Sixth Community Environment Action Programme adopted by Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 (4) establishes the need to reduce pollution to levels which minimise harmful effects on human health, paying particular attention to sensitive populations, and the environment as a whole, to improve the monitoring and assessment of air quality including the deposition of pollutants and to provide information to the public.

(2) In order to protect human health and the environment as a whole, it is particularly important to combat emissions of pollutants at source and to identify and implement the most effective emission reduction measures at local, national and Community level. Therefore, emissions of harmful air pollutants should be avoided, prevented or reduced and appropriate objectives set for ambient air quality taking into account relevant World Health Organisation standards, guidelines and programmes.

(3) Council Directive 96/62/EC of 27 September 1996 on ambient air quality assessment and management (5), Council Directive 1999/30/EC of 22 April 1999 relating to limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead in ambient air (6),

Directive 2000/69/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2000 relating to limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air (7), Directive 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2002 relating to ozone in ambient air (8) and Council Decision 97/101/EC of 27 January 1997 establishing a reciprocal exchange of information and data from networks and individual stations measuring ambient air pollution within the Member States (9) need to be substantially revised in order to incorporate the latest health and scientific developments and the experience of the Member States. In the interests of clarity, simplification and administrative efficiency it is therefore appropriate that those five acts be replaced by a single Directive and, where appropriate, by implementing measures.

(1) OJ C 195, 18.8.2006, p. 84.

(2) OJ C 206, 29.8.2006, p. 1.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 26 September 2006 (OJ C 306 E, 15.12.2006, p. 102), Council Common Position of 25 June 2007 (OJ C 236 E, 6.11.2007, p. 1) and Position of the European Parliament of 11 December 2007. Council Decision of 14 April 2008.

(4) OJ L 242, 10.9.2002, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 296, 21.11.1996, p. 55. Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(6) OJ L 163, 29.6.1999, p. 41. Directive as amended by Commission Decision 2001/744/EC (OJ L 278, 23.10.2001, p. 35).

(7) OJ L 313, 13.12.2000, p. 12.

(8) OJ L 67, 9.3.2002, p. 14.

(9) OJ L 35, 5.2.1997, p. 14. Decision as amended by Commission Decision 2001/752/EC (OJ L 282, 26.10.2001, p. 69).

11.6.2008 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 152/1 (4) Once sufficient experience has been gained in relation to the implementation of Directive 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air (1) consideration may be given to the possibility of merging its provisions with those of this Directive.

(5) A common approach to the assessment of ambient air quality should be followed according to common assessment criteria. When assessing ambient air quality, account should be taken of the size of populations and ecosystems exposed to air pollution. It is therefore appropriate to classify the territory of each Member State into zones or agglomerations reflecting the population density.

(6) Where possible modelling techniques should be applied to enable point data to be interpreted in terms of geographical distribution of concentration. This could serve as a basis for calculating the collective exposure of the population living in the area.

(7) In order to ensure that the information collected on air pollution is sufficiently representative and comparable across the Community, it is important that standardised measurement techniques and common criteria for the number and location of measuring stations are used for the ass...

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