EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 26.10.2022 COM(2022) 542 final/2 2022/0347(COD) This document corrects COM(2022) 542 final.

Concerns all languages versions.

Formatting adjustments which do not affect the substance of the text.

The text shall read as follows: Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe



(recast) {SEC(2022) 542}

{SWD(2022) 345, 542, 545}



EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Clean air is essential to human health and sustaining the environment. Major improvements in air quality have been achieved in the European Union (EU) over the past three decades, thanks to joint efforts by the EU and national, regional and local authorities in the Member States to reduce the adverse impacts of air pollution. However, around 300 000 premature deaths a year (compared with up to 1 million a year in the early 1990s) and a significant number of noncommunicable diseases such as asthma, cardiovascular problems and lung cancer, are still attributed to air pollution (and especially to particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone);. Air pollution continues to be the number one environmental cause of early death in the EU. It disproportionally affects vulnerable groups such as children, elderly people and persons with pre-existing conditions, as well as socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. There is also increasing evidence that air pollution may be associated with changes of the nervous system, such as dementia. In addition, air pollution threatens the environment through acidification, eutrophication, and ozone damage, causing damage to forests, ecosystems and crops. Eutrophication from deposition of nitrogen exceeds critical loads in two thirds of ecosystem areas across the EU, with significant impact on biodiversity. This pollution pressure can aggravate situations of nitrogen surplus via water pollution. In November 2019, the Commission published its Fitness Check of the Ambient Air Quality Directives (Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC). It concluded that the Directives have been partially effective in improving air quality and achieving air quality standards, but that not all their objectives have been met to date. In December 2019, in the European Green Deal , the European Commission committed to further improving air quality and to aligning EU air quality standards more closely with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO recommendations were most recently revised in September 2021 and are subject to periodic scientific review, typically every 10 years. This objective of closer alignment with latest scientific findings was confirmed in the zero pollution action plan , entailing a vision for 2050 to reduce air (and water and soil) pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems, and that respect the boundaries our planet can cope with, thus creating a toxic-free environment. In addition, 2030 targets were introduced, two of them on air: to reduce the health impacts of air pollution (premature deaths) by more than 55%, and the share of EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity by 25%. Stricter air quality standards would also contribute to the objectives of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. The Commission also announced in the European Green Deal that it would strengthen air quality monitoring, modelling and planning. The Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which started in February 2022, led EU leaders to agree on the need to urgently accelerate the transition to clean energy production, with a view to reducing the EU’s dependence on gas and other fossil fuels imported from Russia. On 18 May 2022 an ambitious RePowerEU package of measures was adopted, aimed amongst others at assisting Member States in speeding up the deployment of renewable energy production. If swiftly implemented as set out in the Commission Communication, this package may have significant co-benefits from an air pollution perspective. The Ambient Air Quality Directives are part of a comprehensive clean air policy framework built on three main pillars. The first consists of the Ambient Air Quality Directives themselves, setting quality standards for concentration levels of 12 ambient air pollutants. The second is the Directive on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (the NEC Directive), which sets out commitments per Member State to reduce the emissions of key ambient air pollutants and their precursors, acting within the EU to achieve a joint reduction in transboundary pollution. To this add international efforts, notably through the UNECE Air Convention, to reducing transboundary emissions from outside the EU. The third pillar consists of legislation setting emissions standards for key sources of air pollution, such as road transport vehicles, domestic heating installations and industrial installations. The amount of pollution from such sources is also affected by other policies that influence key activities and sectors in areas such as transport, industry, energy and climate, and agriculture. A number of these policies are part of recent initiatives taken under the European Green Deal , such as the zero pollution action plan , the European Climate Law and the Fit for 55 package with initiatives on energy efficiency and renewable energy, the methane strategy , the sustainable and smart mobility strategy , the related 2021 new urban mobility framework , the biodiversity strategy and the farm to fork initiative . Furthermore, significant reductions of pollutant emissions from cars, vans, lorries and buses are expected to result from the adoption and implementation of the forthcoming Euro 7 proposal (cf PLAN/2020/6308). The revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives would merge the Directives into one, and seek to: ·align EU air quality standards more closely with WHO recommendations ·further improve the legislative framework (e.g. in relation to penalties, and public information) ·better support local authorities in achieving cleaner air through strengthening air quality monitoring, modelling and plans. The impact assessment shows that the benefits of the proposed revision for society far outweigh the costs. The main benefits expected are related to health (including reduced mortality and morbidity, reduced healthcare expenditure, reduced absence from work due to illness and increased productivity at work) and the environment (including reduced ozone-related crop yield losses). 1.1.Consistency with other Union policies This initiative is part of the 2022 Commission work programme and a key action in the Zero Pollution Action Plan. Like all initiatives under the European Green Deal, it aims to ensure that objectives are achieved in the most effective and least burdensome way and comply with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. The proposal contributes to implementing the zero pollution ambition and the targets of the Zero Pollution Action Plan for air quality to protection health and the environment. Many European Green Deal policies and priorities are of relevance for the successful implementation of the proposal, and can benefit from the increased ambition under the proposed Directive. These include: ·The Climate Law and the Fit for 55 package with their increased climate ambition will foster uptake of low- or zero emission technologies with co-benefits for air quality (such as non-combustible renewables, energy efficiency measures, electric mobility). Proposals on increased ambition include an increased ambition of the EU emission trading system (ETS), an increased ambition of the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation, and stricter CO₂ emission performance standards for cars and vans requiring all newly registered cars and vans to be zero-emission from 2035. Stricter air quality standards under this proposal will bring co-benefits for climate in the form of reduced greenhouse gas emissions, notably CO2 emissions, from fossil fuel burning, and reduction of black carbon (BC), a short-lived climate forcer (SLCF).

·RePowerEU proposes actions to rapidly reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, including an overall reduction of energy consumption, diversification of energy imports, substituting fossil fuels and accelerating the transition to renewable energy in power generation, industry, buildings and transport and smart investments. Speeding up these actions can benefit air quality, too. ·Increased uptake of non-combustible renewable energy sources will reduce reliance on fossil fuels and hence emissions of air pollutants, improving air quality. Initiatives promoting renewable energy sources include the 2021 proposal to revise the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), which puts forward more ambitious 2030 targets, as well as the 2022 Commission Communication on RePower EU with its emphasis on frontloading investments in renewables, notably solar power and wind, and in heat pumps, all of which are beneficial also for air quality. ·Increased ambition on energy efficiency and the introduction of a binding EU energy efficiency target through the proposal on a revised Energy Efficiency Directive will decrease energy needs overall, including of fossil fuels and hence reduce emissions of air pollutants, improving air quality. ·Action under the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and the related the related 2021 new urban mobility framework supporting the move towards lower-emission and public transport will bring positive co-benefits for air quality. Some actions with particular relevance for air quality include more stringent air pollutant emissions standards for combustion engine vehicles (in the forthcoming Euro 7 proposal); the proposal for an alternative fuels infrastructure regulation: a comprehensive network of recharging and refuelling infrastructure is needed to facilitate the increased uptake of renewable and low-carbon fuels, including e-mobility, which would bring important air quality co-benefits.; proposals for ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime include measures that promote cleaner fuels, with a potential to reduce air pollutant emissions, and to improve air quality near ports and airports by requiring the use of on-shore power supply or zero-emission energy at berth for specific ship types and sustainable aviation fuels in aircrafts. In turn, the Ambient Air Quality Directives trigger increased action in urban areas to move to lower emission mobility, introduction of low-emission zones, increased uptake of public transport and active mobility to attain limit values. ·Greening the Common Agricultural Policy and the ‘Farm to Fork’ Strategy can help to reduce ammonia emissions from agriculture, for instance through promoting ammonia reduction measures via CAP Strategic Plans or improving nutrient management. ·Stricter air quality standards under this proposal will help to protect diversity in line with the Biodiversity Strategy, while policies that improve ecosystem health, such as the proposed Nature Restoration Law, can also deliver on clean air aspects. 1.2.Legal basis The legal basis for the EU to act on air quality lies in Articles 191 and 192 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), on the environment. These Articles empower the EU to act to preserve, protect, and improve the quality of the environment, protect human health and promote measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems. The same legal basis underpins the current Ambient Air Quality Directives. Given that this is an area of shared competence between the EU and the Member States, EU action must respect the subsidiarity principle. 1.3.Subsidiarity and proportionality The objectives of this initiative cannot be sufficiently achieved at Member State level alone. This is due, firstly, to the transboundary nature of air pollution: atmospheric modelling and measurements of air pollution demonstrate beyond doubt that the pollution emitted in one Member State contributes to measured pollution in other Member States. Once air pollutants are emitted or formed in the atmosphere, they can be transported over thousands of kilometres. The scale of the issue at hand requires EU-wide action to ensure that all Member States take measures to reduce the risks to the population in each Member State. Secondly, the TFEU requires policies aiming for a high level of protection, taking into account the diversity of situations across the EU. The existing Directives established minimum air quality standards throughout the EU but leave the choice of measures to the Member States, so that they can adjust these measures to specific national, regional and local circumstances. This principle is maintained in the proposed Directive, which would merge the two existing Ambient Air Quality Directives into one. Thirdly, fairness and equality must be ensured as regards the economic implications of air pollution control measures and the ambient air quality experienced by people across the EU. 1.4.Proportionality principle The proposal complies with the proportionality principle as it ·merges two Directives, consolidating and simplifying the provisions of the existing Directives in one; ·leaves the details of implementation to the Member States who know national, regional and local circumstances and can therefore better choose the most cost-effective measures to attain air quality standards; ·delivers substantial health and economic benefits that are expected to clearly outweigh the costs of measures to be taken;

·requires more precise air quality assessment through specific monitoring and modelling requirement, which can be expected to foster more targeted and cost-effective measures to comply with air quality standards. 1.5.Choice of instruments The proposed instrument remains a Directive, as previously. Other means would not be suitable, as the proposal is to continue setting objectives at EU level but leaving the choice of measures for compliance to the Member States, who can adjust these measures to different national, regional and local circumstances, i.e. taking into account the diversity and specificity of situations across the EU. Continuity in the choice of instrument also facilitates merging and simplifying the two existing Directives into a single instrument. 2.RESULTS OF EX- POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 2.1.Evaluation/fitness check and related opinions of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) The Fitness Check on the Ambient Air Quality Directives found that they had guided the setting up of representative high-quality monitoring of air quality, set clear air quality standards, and facilitated the exchange of reliable, objective, comparable information on air quality, including information for a wider public. They had been less successful in ensuring that sufficient action was taken to meet air quality standards and keep the duration of exceedances as short as possible. Nevertheless, the available evidence indicated that Ambient Air Quality Directives had contributed to a downward trend in air pollution and reduced the number and magnitude of exceedances. The conclusion, in the light of this partial delivery, was that the Ambient Air Quality Directives had been broadly fit for purpose – while at the same time pointing to scope for improvements in the existing framework to achieve good air quality across the EU. It emerged from the Fitness Check that additional guidance, or clearer requirements in the Ambient Air Quality Directives themselves, could help to make monitoring, modelling and the provisions for plans and measures more effective and efficient. Air quality standards were found to have been instrumental in driving concentrations downward and reducing exceedance levels. Nevertheless, EU air quality standards are not fully aligned with well-established health recommendations, and there have been and continue to be substantial delays in taking appropriate and effective measures to meet the air quality standards. Overall, the monitoring network was found by and large to comply with the provisions of the existing Ambient Air Quality Directives, and to ensure that reliable and representative air quality data are available. However, concerns were noted that the criteria on monitoring offer too much leeway and present some ambiguity for relevant authorities. Following recommendations from the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, the Fitness Check provided further clarifications in several areas, including on differences between EU air quality standards and WHO recommendations, air quality trends and monitoring, effectiveness of legislation in achieving air quality standards, stakeholder feedback and public perception of air quality. 2.2.Stakeholder consultation The stakeholder consultation aimed to collect supporting information, data, knowledge and views from a comprehensive range of stakeholders, to provide input for the different policy options for revising the Ambient Air Quality Directives, and to help assess the feasibility of implementing them. The open public consultation ran for 12 weeks, as an online questionnaire with 13 introductory and 31 specific questions, hosted on the EU Survey tool. The questionnaire included issues to be covered in the impact assessment and gathered initial views on the ambition level and potential impacts of certain options for revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives. A total of 934 responses were received, and 116 position papers were submitted. Open questions received between 11 and 406 individual responses – 124 on average. The responses came from 23 different Member States. The targeted survey was published on EU Survey in two parts (part 1 on policy area 1 ‘air quality standards’ on 13 December 2021, and part 2 on policy areas 2 and 3 ‘governance; monitoring, modelling and air quality plans’ on 13 January 2022), both with a deadline for contributions of 11 February 2022. The targeted survey sought in-depth views from organisations with an interest in or working with EU rules on air quality. Accordingly, the survey was sent out to targeted stakeholders, including relevant authorities at different levels of governance, private sector organisations, academics and civil society organisations in all EU Member States. Part 1 of the targeted stakeholder survey received in total 139 replies from 24 Member States. Part 2 of the survey received 93 replies from 22 Member States. The first stakeholder meeting took place on 23 September 2021 and was attended by 315 external participants, either onsite or online, from 27 Member States. The aim of the first stakeholder meeting was to gather views on shortcomings identified in the current Ambient Air Quality Directives, as well as on the ambition level for the revised legislation. The second stakeholder meeting on 4 April 2022 was attended by 257 external participants, either onsite or online, from 23 Member States. The aim of the meeting was to collect feedback from stakeholders for the completion of the impact assessment. Targeted interviews were conducted to complement the other consultation activities, in particular with representatives of regional and national public authorities, civil society & NGOs, and academia & research. The main purpose of the interviews was to fill remaining information gaps identified from the evaluation of the targeted stakeholder survey. Consequently, the interviews focused on policy area 2, notably on the feasibility, means of implementation and impacts of the various options considered. In addition, the impact assessment took into account: 30 ad hoc contributions (position papers, scientific studies and other documents) received from 25 different stakeholders; discussions at the third EU Clean Air Forum on 18 and 19 November 2021; feedback on the inception impact assessment from 63 stakeholders from 12 Member States; and the Fit for Future Platform opinion on the ambient air quality legislation. Furthermore, the report on the final outcome of the Conference on the Future of Europe showed that citizens demand action to reduce air pollution.

2.3.Use of expertise The following areas of expertise have been used in developing this proposal: (1) analysis of links between air pollution and human health, (2) estimation of health impacts, including monetary quantification, (4) estimation of ecosystem impacts, (5) macroeconomic modelling, and (6) air quality assessment and management expertise. This expertise has been gathered mainly through service contracts and grant agreements, with, among others, the WHO, the European Environment Agency, the Joint Research Centre and different consultants. All reports from experts and contracts have been routinely uploaded to the internet for public distribution. 2.4.Impact assessment and opinion of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board The impact assessment analysed 19 policy options (comprising 69 policy measures) to address shortcomings identified in the current Ambient Air Quality Directives regarding environment and health, governance and enforcement, monitoring and assessment, as well as information and communication. Each of these policy options was assessed with regards to its environmental, social and economic consequences, its consistency with other policy priorities and its expected benefit-to-cost ratio. The preferred policy package is set out below. 1.On air quality standards: a. setting clear EU air quality standards, defined as limit values for 2030, based on a political choice between policy options ‘full alignment’ (I-1), ‘closer alignment’ ( I-2) and ‘partial alignment’ (I-3), with a limited number of temporary exceptions where these are clearly warranted; b. pointing to a post-2030 perspective for a full alignment with the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines, whilst getting on track towards alignment also with future WHO Guidelines to achieve the zero pollution vision by the year 2050; c. a regular review mechanism to assure that the latest scientific understanding of air quality guides future decisions. 2.On governance and enforcement a. updating the minimum requirements for air quality plans; b. introducing limit values for air pollutants currently subject to target values, to enable more effective reduction of the concentrations of these pollutants; c. further clarifying how exceedances of air quality standards need to be resolved, how to prevent them in advance, and when to update air quality plans; d. further defining the type of measures that competent authorities must take to keep exceedance periods as short as possible, and expanding provisions on penalties in case of breaches of air quality standards; e. strengthening the obligations for Member States to cooperate when transboundary pollution causes breaches of air quality standards; f. improving enforceability of the Directives through new provisions on access to justice and compensation and an enhanced provision on penalties.

3.On air quality assessments a. Further improving, simplifying and somewhat expanding air quality monitoring and assessment, including i. monitoring pollutants of emerging concern; ii. limiting relocations of air quality sampling points to those where limit values have been respected for at least three years; iii. further clarifying and streamlining siting criteria for sampling points; vi. updating the maximum measurement uncertainties allowed in line with the stricter air quality standards proposed. b. making better use of air quality modelling i. to detect breaches of air quality standards, inform air quality plans and the placement of sampling points; ii. Improving the quality and comparability of air quality modelling. 4.On public information about air quality a. Hourly reporting of all available up-to-date air quality measurements for key pollutants, and making the information accessible to citizens with an air quality index; b. Informing the public about possible health effects and recommending behaviour when air quality standards are breached. Overall, the main benefits are expected to come in the form of reduced mortality and morbidity, reduced healthcare expenditure, reduced ozone-related crop yield losses, reduced absence from work due to illness and increased productivity at work. The policy options regarding different levels of alignment with the WHO Air Quality Guidelines have environmental, economic, social and health implications. All three of these options, i.e. ‘full alignment’ (I-1), ‘closer alignment’ (I-2) and ‘partial alignment’ (I-3), would render significant health and environment benefits – albeit to varying degrees. However, for all three policy options, the impact assessment shows that benefits for society far outweigh the costs. The annual costs and benefits have been calculated for 2030 as a central estimate, since this is the year in which the majority of new air quality standards would need to be achieved for the first time. Mitigation costs would already arise in preceding years to ensure the new standards were met in 2030, but after 2030 they are likely to decrease as one-off investments necessary to achieve the targets will have been made already. Policy option I-3 (‘partial alignment’ with the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines by 2030) has the highest benefit-to-cost ratio (between 10:1 and 28:1). Most air quality sampling points in the EU might be expected to meet the corresponding air quality standards with little additional effort. Under the central estimate, the net benefits amount to more than EUR 29 billion, compared to corresponding mitigation measure costs of EUR 3.3 billion in 2030. For policy option I-2 (‘closer alignment’ with the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines by 2030) the benefit-to-cost ratio is expected to be slightly lower (between 7.5:1 and 21:1) Some 6% of sampling points would not be expected to meet the corresponding air quality standards without additional effort at local level (or may need time extensions or exceptions). Under the central estimate, the net benefits amount to more than 36 billion EUR, i.e. 25% more than policy option I-3. The corresponding total mitigation measures and related administrative costs are estimates at EUR 5.7 billion in 2030. Under policy option I‑1 (‘full alignment’ with the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines by 2030) the benefit-to-cost ratio also remains significantly positive (between 6:1 and 18:1). However, 71% of sampling points would not be expected to meet the corresponding air quality standards without additional effort at local level (and in many of these instances would not be able to meet these standards at all with technical feasible reductions only). Under the central estimate, the net benefits amount to more than EUR 38 billion, i.e. 5% more than policy option I-2. The corresponding mitigation costs are estimated at EUR 7 billion in 2030. Administrative costs are in an estimated range of EUR 75 million to EUR 106 million a year in 2030. This includes the cost of drawing up air quality plans, of air quality assessments and additional sampling points. In particular, the cost of drawing up air quality plans is expected to decrease over time, as they resolve air quality exceedances and make themselves redundant. Similarly, air quality assessment regime requirements become less stringent as air quality improves, with an expected decrease in costs related to air quality monitoring – however, the above estimates, including one-off investment, have been annualised in the calculations. Note all these costs are borne by public authorities. It is important to note that the Ambient Air Quality Directives impose no direct administrative costs on consumers and businesses. The potential costs for them stem mainly from measures taken by Member State authorities to achieve the air quality standards set in the Directives. These are part of the overall mitigation/adjustment costs mentioned above.

The proposed merging of the current Ambient Air Quality Directives, 2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC, into a single Directive is expected to reduce the administrative burden for public authorities, in particular relevant authorities in the Member States, by simplifying rules, enhancing consistency and clarity, and making implementation more efficient. The impact assessment also checked consistency with climate policy, in particular the European Climate Law . Given the many common sources of greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions, the proposed revision of EU air quality standards will support climate targets, as measures to achieve clean air will lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions as well. The assessed impacts of the proposal on air quality is also coherent with the zero pollution action plan , notably its 2030 target to reduce by more than 55% the health impacts (premature deaths) of air pollution, and, the 2050 vision of the Action Plan to reduce air, water and soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health. There are also important synergies with policies that address pollutant emissions at source and that are part of the Action Plan, too. This concerns, for instance, the recent proposal for revising the Industrial Emissions Directive and the forthcoming proposal for Euro 7 emission standards for road vehicles, which will support the achievement of stricter air quality standards. Following the opinion of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, the impact assessment was enhanced with additional analysis and clarifications on (1) the interaction of the proposal with other initiatives such as the impact of the proposed revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive, (2) the different parameters analysed for different policy options, including their respective feasibility, and (3) the reasons for problems identified with the implementation of the current Ambient Air Quality Directives. In parallel to the impact assessment undertaken for this proposal, a wider analysis of the clean air context and its future prospects has been carried out and will be published as a regular Clean Air Outlook report and as part of the Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook report planned for the end of 2022. The Third Clean Air Outlook will complement the analysis undertaken for the impact assessment for revision of the Directives, shedding light on additional elements such as: the regional impact of the measures proposed in the REPowerEU package on clean air; the positive prospect of achieving the zero pollution 2030 targets under the preferred policy package for revision of the Directives; and the effect of including non-technological (e.g. dietary) measures on clean air projections for 2030. These impacts are in addition to possible greater long-term positive impacts. 2.5.Regulatory fitness and simplification (REFIT) In light of its better regulation agenda (and REFIT programme), the Commission is proposing to merge Directive 2008/50/EC and Directive 2004/107/EC into one Directive regulating all relevant air pollutants. When Directive 2008/50/EC was adopted, it replaced a number of legislative acts: Council Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality assessment and management, Council Directive 99/30/EC on limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead in ambient air, Directive 2000/69/EC on limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air, Directive 2002/3/EC on ozone in ambient air and Council Decision 97/101/EC establishing a reciprocal exchange of information and data from networks and individual stations measuring ambient air pollution within the Member States. They were merged into a single Directive in the interest of clarity, simplification and administrative efficiency. At the time, the European Parliament and the Council also stipulated that consideration should be given to merging Directive 2004/107/EC with Directive 2008/50/EC, once sufficient experience had been gained in relation to the implementation of Directive 2004/107/EC. After more than a decade of implementing Directive 2008/50/EC and Directive 2004/107/EC in parallel, the revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives provides an opportunity to incorporate the latest scientific knowledge and experience with implementation by merging them into a single Directive. This will consolidate air quality legislation, while simplifying rules applying to relevant authorities, enhancing overall consistency and clarity, and thus making implementation more efficient. The proposal also streamlines and simplifies a number of provisions, notably in relation to air quality monitoring of different air pollutants, types of air quality standards for these pollutants, and the requirements that result from them, such as the development of air quality plans. The suggestions by the Fit for Future Platform’s 12 November 2021 opinion on “Ambient air quality legislation” was considered throughout the impact assessment, including for instance recommendations related to air quality standards, implementation, monitoring, merging the existing directives into one, coherence with related policies. 2.6.Fundamental rights The proposed directive respects fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. This proposal sets out to avoid, prevent and reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment from air pollution, in line with Article 191(1) of the TFEU. It thus seeks to integrate into EU policies a high level of environmental protection and improvement in the quality of the environment in accordance with the principle of sustainable development laid down in Article 37 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It also puts into concrete terms the obligation to protect the right to life and to the integrity of the person laid down in Articles 2 and 3 of the Charter. Further, it contributes to the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal as laid down in Article 47 of the Charter, in relation to the protection of human health, through detailed provisions on access to justice, compensation and penalties. 3.BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS The financial statement related to the budgetary implications and the human and administrative resources required for this proposal are integrated in the legislative financial statement for the zero pollution package which is presented as part of the proposal for revision of the lists of pollutants affecting surface and groundwaters. The proposal will have budgetary implications for the Commission, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) in terms of human and administrative resources required.

The Commission’s implementation and enforcement workload will slightly increase as a result of listing new standards and more substances to be monitored, and the need to review and update existing guidance and implementing decisions, as well as draft new guidance documents. The Commission will furthermore need increased support from the JRC to strengthen air quality monitoring and modelling implementation. Specifically, this will involve drafting guidance, chairing two key expert networks, and drawing up standards relating to air quality monitoring and modelling in collaboration with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). This scientific support would be obtained through the launch of administrative arrangements. The EEA will have an increased workload as a result of: the need to expand infrastructure and support continuous reporting, which would be extended to include air pollutants of emerging concern as well as average exposure reduction obligations covering pollutants PM2.5 and NO2; the need to expand reporting infrastructure for up-to-date information from additional sampling points, modelling data and air quality plans; the need to increase support for sound assessments of air quality data reported; and the need to strengthen the links between the analysis and support for policies on air pollution, climate change, human and ecosystem health. This will require one new additional full-time-equivalent staff and two redeployments, on top of the current team of EEA colleagues already supporting EU clean air policy. 4.OTHER ELEMENTS The current framework established under the Ambient Air Quality Directives already offers high-quality representative monitoring of air quality, as demonstrated in the Fitness Check for the Directives. Across the EU, Member States have established an air quality monitoring network with some 16 000 sampling points for specific pollutants (many of which are grouped together at more than 4 000 monitoring stations), with sampling based on common criteria defined by the Directives. Overall, the monitoring network largely complies with the Directives and ensures that reliable and representative air quality data are available. The monitoring framework will be further improved by this proposal, as explained in more detail below. The existing provisions on reporting set out in Commission Decision 2011/850 guided the development of an effective and efficient digital e-reporting system, hosted by the EEA. In addition, this proposal includes monitoring of pollutants of emerging concern. This will make it possible to observe several air pollutants for which no harmonised EU-wide air quality monitoring yet exists. Improvements to air quality monitoring, modelling and assessment regimes are also part of this proposal. They will provide additional comparable and objective information making it possible to regularly monitor and evaluate the development of air quality in the EU. Along with more precise requirements for information to be included in air quality plans, as provided for in this proposal, this will enable the effectiveness of specific (often local) air quality measures to be kept under constant review. Clearer specific requirements on public information will make it easier and faster for the public to access the outcomes of monitoring and evaluation of air quality data and related policy action. All this will usefully inform future evaluations of a revised Ambient Air Quality Directive. 5.DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE SPECIFIC PROVISIONS OF THE PROPOSAL: Amendments made through the proposal to merge the current Ambient Air Quality Directives (2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC) aim to consolidate and simplify the legislation. The following explanations focus on changes compared to the current Directives. The numbering of articles cited corresponds to the proposal. Article 1 introduces the 2050 zero pollution objective for air quality to ensure that, by 2050, air quality is so improved that pollution is no longer considered harmful to human health and the environment. Article 3 provides for a regular review of scientific evidence to check whether the air quality standards in force are still sufficient to protect human health and the environment, and whether additional air pollutants should be regulated. The review will inform the development of plans for alignment with the WHO Air Quality Guidelines by 2050 based on a regular review mechanism to take into account the latest scientific understanding. Article 4 include updates and adds new definitions of elements which are changed or added to the Directive. Article 5 requires that Member States ensure the accuracy of model applications, with a view to enabling increased use of modelling for air quality assessment, and better use of the modelling. Article 7 simplifies the rules for assessment thresholds. The thresholds inform which air quality assessment techniques should apply at different levels of pollution. The proposal replaces the current lower and upper threshold with a single assessment threshold per pollutant. Article 8 ensures that ambient air quality must be monitored using fixed sampling points wherever air pollution levels exceed WHO recommendations. When limit values or the ozone target value of this Directive are exceeded, air quality must also be assessed with modelling applications. Modelling will also help to detect possible additional locations where limit values or the ozone target value are exceeded. This aims to make use of the advances in modelling applications to guide effective, targeted and cost-efficient air quality measures with a view to ending breaches of air quality standards as soon as possible. Article 9 updates and clarifies rules for the number and location of sampling points, including stricter rules for relocating sampling points. The revised rules also bring together and simplify sampling point requirements for different air pollutants and air quality standards, currently spread out across the Directives.

Article 10 introduces monitoring supersites and regulates their number and location. These monitoring supersites combine multiple sampling points to gather long-term data on air pollutants covered by this Directive, as well as on air pollutants of emerging concern and other relevant metrics. Combining multiple sampling points in a supersite instead of placing them separately may in some instances save costs. Introducing additional sampling points for unregulated air pollutants of emerging concern, such as ultrafine particles (UFP), black carbon (BC), ammonia (NH3) or the oxidative potential of particulate matter, will support scientific understanding of their effects on health and the environment. Where applicable, Member States can set up common monitoring supersites, which can reduce costs. Article 11 clarifies data quality objectives for air quality measurement and introduces quality objectives for modelling. A new requirement is added that requires all data to be reported and to be used for compliance assessment purposes, even if they do not meet the data quality objectives. Provisions on assessing ozone are integrated with provisions on assessing other pollutants to simplify and streamline the provisions. Article 12 brings together existing requirements on keeping air pollutant levels below limit values and introduces new requirements for average exposure concentrations. Article 13 aligns EU air quality standards more closely with 2021 WHO recommendations, taking into account feasibility and cost-effectiveness analysed in the impact assessment accompanying this proposal. In addition, limit values are introduced for all air pollutants currently subject to target values, except for ozone (O3). Experience with the current Directives shows that this will increase effectiveness in bringing down air pollutant concentrations. Ozone is exempted from this change due to the complex characteristics of its formation in the atmosphere which complicate the task of assessing the feasibility of complying with strict limit values. The revised limit and target values will enter into force in 2030, balancing the need for swift improvement with the need to ensure sufficient lead-time and for coordination with key related policies that will bear results in 2030, such as the Fit for 55 package of climate change mitigation policies. To put the EU on a trajectory that will enable it to realise the zero pollution vision for air in 2050, a new provision is introduced requiring a reduction in public's average exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at regional level (NUTS 1 territorial units), towards the levels recommended by the WHO. This adds to the obligation to meet limit and target values, applicable in air quality zones. To inform clean air policy at EU level, Member States are required to notify the Commission swiftly if they introduce more stringent air quality standards than the EU standards. Article 14 is shortened, as sampling point requirements are the same as those under Article 7. The content of several articles (former Articles 15-18 of Directive 2008/50/EC) on air quality standards and related requirements for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) is integrated with standards for other pollutants in Articles 12, 13 and 23, and requirements on sampling points are integrated into Article 7. Article 15 introduces alert thresholds for short-term measures on peak pollution from particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), in addition to the existing alert thresholds for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2), given the significant health impacts of particulate matter pollution. Article 16 extends the rules on deducting natural source contributions to exceedances of air quality standards to cover exceedances of average exposure reduction obligations. Air pollution from natural sources such as Saharan dust cannot be influenced by air quality management. This is why Articles 19 and 20 ensure that air quality exceedances resulting from these sources will not count as non-compliance with air quality standards including average exposure reduction obligations, and not require air quality plans. Article 17 on deduction of winter-sanding and winter-salting is extended to include fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Winter-sanding and winter-salting are important for road safety, even though resuspension of particles from these measures can also contribute to air pollution with particulate matter of different sizes. Air quality exceedances resulting from these sources only will not result in a requirement to establish air quality plans under Article 19. Article 18 on postponing deadlines to attain limit values for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) lays down additional prerequisites for postponement, in order to increase the efficiency of air quality measures taken towards respecting the limit values. For example, air quality plans must outline how additional funding will be sought to achieve compliance faster, and how the public will be informed about the consequences of the postponement for human health and the environment. In addition, it will only be possible to postpone attainment of a limit value if the average exposure reduction obligation for the relevant air pollutant has been complied with for at least 3 years before the postponement starts. This is to ensure that postponement is granted only for cases of localised exceedances of limit values due to site-specific conditions, and will not be used to delay local, regional or national air quality measures, be it at local, regional or national measures. Article 19 increases the effectiveness of air quality plans to ensure compliance with air quality standards as soon as possible. This will be achieved by (a) requiring air quality plans to be drawn up before air quality standards enter into force in cases of non-compliance prior to 2030, (b) specifying that air quality plans must aim to keep the exceedance period as short as possible, and in any case no longer than 3 years for limit values, and (c) mandating regular updates of air quality plans if they do not achieve compliance. Air quality plans are made mandatory when limit values, the ozone target value or average exposure reduction obligations are exceeded. The plans will also be mandatory when it is anticipated that these standards will be exceeded. This will help to ensure that periods of exceedance are kept as short as possible. It will also foster synergies between managing different air pollutants, and between measures to attain different standards. For instance, measures to attain the average exposure reduction obligation for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) will also support the attainment of the PM2.5 limit value. A final amendment will require that air quality plans analyse the risk of exceeding alert thresholds. This will lead to greater integration of short-term action plans – required to address alert threshold exceedances – with longer-term action plans, saving resources and improving the measures taken. Article 20 requires Member States to demonstrate why a short-term action plan would not be effective if they decide not to adopt one despite a risk of exceeding the ozone alert threshold. The article also makes public consultation on short-term action plans mandatory to ensure all relevant information is taken into account for their design. Article 21 further clarifies and strengthens the arrangements for cooperation between Member States to address breaches of air quality standards due to transboundary air pollution, notably requiring swift exchange of information between Member States and with the Commission. Article 22 improves public awareness of air pollution by obliging Member States to establish an air quality index providing hourly air quality updates for the most harmful air pollutants. Article 23 stipulates that the Commission will adopt implementing acts on reporting information about air quality data and management. These implementing acts will be brought into line with the revised Directive. Article 27 establishes detailed provisions to ensure access to justice for those who want to challenge the implementation of this Directive, such as when an air quality plan has not been established despite exceedances of relevant air quality standards. Article 28 aims to establish an effective right for people to be compensated where damage to their health has occurred wholly or partially as a result of a violation of rules prescribed on limit values, air quality plans, short-term action plans or in relation to transboundary pollution. People affected have the right to claim and obtain compensation for that damage. This includes the possibility for collective actions.

Article 29 is amended to clarify in more detail how Member States need to establish effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for those who violate the measures adopted in the Member State to implement this Directive, including dissuasive financial penalties, without prejudice to Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through criminal law. Annex I, in conjunction with Articles 13 and 15, brings together air quality standards for different pollutants, setting: (a) new limit values for the protection of human health; (b) updated ozone target values and long-term objectives; (c) new alert thresholds for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5); and (d) average exposure reduction obligations for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) towards an average exposure concentration obligation at the level of WHO recommendations. Annex II sets the assessment thresholds for air quality monitoring and modelling. Annex III, in conjunction with Article 9, simplifies criteria for determining minimum numbers of sampling points for fixed measurement, and brings together these criteria for all air pollutants subject to different air quality standards (limit values, ozone target value, average exposure reduction obligations, alert thresholds and critical levels). Annex IV brings together criteria for the location of sampling points for all air pollutants subject to different air quality standards. Annex V updates and strengthens the data quality and uncertainty requirements for fixed and indicative air quality measurements, modelling, and objective estimation to ensure precise assessment in light of stricter air quality standards proposed and technical advances since the adoption of the existing Directives. Annex VI updates rules for the methods that must be used for assessing the concentrations of different pollutants in ambient air, as well as for assessing the rate at which certain pollutants enter ecosystems. Annex VII introduces monitoring of ultrafine particles (UFP) at locations where high concentrations of UFP are likely, such as at or close to airports, ports, roads, industrial sites or domestic heating. Together with the information from monitoring UFP background concentrations at monitoring supersites required by Article 10, this will help to understand the contribution of different sources to UFP concentrations. Annex VII also updates the list of volatile organic compounds (VOC) recommended for measurements that aim to improve the understanding of ozone formation and management. Annex VIII, in conjunction with Article 19, brings together requirements for air quality plans that address exceedances of limit values, the ozone target value and average exposure reduction obligations. Streamlining these requirements will foster synergies between managing different air pollutants and attaining different air quality standards. Annex VIII also requires that air quality plans contain a more precise analysis of the expected effects of air quality measures. This will help make air quality plans more effective. Annex IX enhances the air quality information to be provided to the public, including obligatory hourly updates for fixed measurements of key air pollutants, as well as up-to-date modelling results where those are available. 🡻 2008/50 (adapted) 2022/0347 (COD) Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe



(recast) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty ⌦ on the functioning of the European Union ⌫ establishing the European Community, and in particular Article ⌦ 192 ⌫ 175 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee, Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, Whereas: ⇩ new (1)Directive No 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council have been substantially amended. Since further amendments are to be made, those Directives should be recast in the interest of clarity. (2)In December 2019, the European Commission set out in its Communication ‘The European Green Deal’ an ambitious roadmap to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, aiming to protect, conserve and enhance the Union’s natural capital, and to protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. Specifically on clean air, the European Green Deal committed to further improving air quality and to aligning EU air quality standards more closely with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). It also announced a strengthening of provisions on air quality monitoring, modelling and planning. (3)In May 2021, the Commission adopted a Communication establishing a ‘Zero Pollution Action Plan’ that inter alia addresses pollution aspects of the European Green Deal and further commits to reducing, by 2030, the health impact of air pollution by more than 55% and the EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity by 25%. (4)The Zero Pollution Action Plan also sets out a vision for the year 2050, where air pollution is reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems. To this end, a staged approach towards setting current and future EU air quality standards should be pursued, establishing intermediate air quality standards for the year 2030 and beyond, and developing a perspective for alignment with the WHO Air Quality Guidelines by the year 2050 at the latest based on a regular review mechanism to take into account the latest scientific understanding. Given the links between pollution reduction and decarbonisation, the long-term objective to achieve the zero pollution ambition should be pursued hand in hand with reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as set by Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council. (5)In taking the relevant measures at Union and national level to achieve the zero pollution objective for air pollution, Member States, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission should be guided by the ‘precautionary principle’ and the ‘polluter pays principle’ established in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and the ‘do no harm’ principle of the European Green Deal. They should, inter alia, take into account: the contribution of improved air quality to public health, the quality of the environment, the well-being of citizens, the prosperity of society, employment and the competitiveness of the economy; the energy transition, strengthened energy security and the tackling of energy poverty; food security and affordability; the development of sustainable and smart mobility and transport solutions; the impact of behavioural changes; fairness and solidarity across and within Member States, in light of their economic capability, national circumstances, such as the specificities of islands, and the need for convergence over time; the need to make the transition just and socially fair through appropriate education and training programmes; best available and most recent scientific evidence, in particular the findings reported by the WHO; the need to integrate air pollution related risks into investment and planning decisions; cost-effectiveness and technological neutrality in achieving air pollutant emission reductions; and progression over time in environmental integrity and level of ambition. (6)The ‘Eighth General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030’ adopted by Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council on 6 April 2022 establishes the objective to achieve a non-toxic environment protecting the health and well-being of people, animals and ecosystems from environment-related risks and negative impacts, and, for that purpose, stipulates that further improvement of monitoring methods, better information to the public and access to justice are needed. This guides the objectives set in this Directive. (7)The Commission should regularly review the scientific evidence related to pollutants, their effects on human health and the environment and technological development. Based on the review, the Commission should assess whether applicable air quality standards are still appropriate to achieve the objectives of this Directive. The first review should be carried out by 31/12/2028 to assess whether air quality standards need to be updated based on the latest scientific information. 🡻 2008/50 recital 5 (adapted) (8)A common approach to the assessment of ambient air quality should be followed according to ⌦ by applying ⌫ 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. 🡻 2008/50 recital 14 (adapted)

⇨ new (9)Fixed measurements should be mandatory in zones and agglomerations where the long-term objectives for ozone or the assessment thresholds for other pollutants are exceeded. Information from fixed measurements may be supplemented by modelling techniques and/or indicative measurements to ⌦ Modelling applications and indicative measurements, in addition to information from fixed measurements, ⌫ enable point data to be interpreted in terms of geographical distribution of concentrations. The use of ⌦ such ⌫ supplementary techniques of assessment should also allow for reduction of the required minimum number of fixed sampling points. ⇨ in zones where assessment thresholds are not exceeded. In zones where limit values or target values are exceeded, both fixed measurements and the use of modelling applications should be mandatory. Additional monitoring of background concentrations and deposition of pollutants in ambient air should also be carried out to enable better understanding of pollution levels and dispersion ⇦. 🡻 2008/50 recital 6 (adapted) ⇨ new (10)Where possible Mmodelling techniques ⇨ applications ⇦ should be applied to enable point data to be interpreted in terms of geographical distribution of concentration ⇨ , to help to detect breaches of air quality standards, and to inform air quality plans and the placement of sampling points ⇦. This could serve as a basis for calculating the collective exposure of the population living in the area. ⇨ In addition to the requirements for air quality monitoring defined in this Directive, for monitoring purposes, Member States are encouraged to exploit information products and supplementary tools (e.g. regular evaluation and quality assessment reports, policy online applications), provided by the Earth Observation component of the EU Space Programme, in particular the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). ⇦ ⇩ new (11)It is important that pollutants of emerging concern, such as ultrafine particles, black carbon and elemental carbon, as well as ammonia and the oxidative potential of particulate matter, be monitored in order to support scientific understanding of their effects on health and the environment, as recommended by the WHO. 🡻 2008/50 recital 8 (adapted) ⇨ new (12)Detailed measurements of fine particulate matter at rural background locations should be made in order to understand better the impacts of this pollutant and to develop appropriate policies. Such measurements should be made in a manner consistent with those of the cooperative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long range transmission of air pollutants in Europe (EMEP) set up under the 1979 ⌦ United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) ⌫ Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution approved by Council Decision 81/462/EEC of 11 June 1981 ⇨ and its Protocols, including the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone of 1999, which was revised in 2012 ⇦ . 🡻 2008/50 recital 7 (adapted) (13)In order to ensure that the information collected on air pollution is sufficiently representative and comparable across the ⌦ Union ⌫ Community, it is important that standardised measurement techniques and common criteria for the number and location of measuring stations are used for the assessment of ambient air quality. Techniques other than measurements can be used to assess ambient air quality and it is therefore necessary to define criteria for the use and required accuracy of such techniques. 🡻 2004/107 recital 12 ⇨ new (14)Standardised accurate measurement techniques and common criteria for the location of measuring stations are important elements in assessing ambient air quality so that the information obtained is comparable throughout the Community. Providing reference measurement methods is acknowledged to be an important issue. The Commission has already mandated work on the preparation of CEN standards for the measurement of ⇨ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and for the evaluation of the performance of sensor systems for the determination of concentrations of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter in ambient air ⇦ those constituents in ambient air where target values are defined (arsenic, cadmium, nickel and benzo(a)pyrene) as well as for the deposition of heavy metals with a view to their early development and adoption. In the absence of CEN standard methods, the use of international or national standard reference measurement methods should be permitted.

🡻 2008/50 recital 2 (adapted) ⇨ new (15)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 ⌦ Union ⌫ Community level ⇨ , in particular when it comes to emissions from agriculture, industries, transport and energy generation ⇦ . Therefore, emissions of harmful air pollutants should be avoided, prevented or reduced and appropriate ⇨ standards ⇦ objectives set for ambient air quality taking into account relevant World Health Organisation ⌦ Organization ⌫ standards, guidelines and programmes. 🡻 2004/107 recital 3 (adapted) ⇨ new (16)Scientific evidence shows that ⇨ sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, lead, benzene, carbon monoxide, ⇦ arsenic, cadmium, nickel,and some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ⇨ and ozone ⇦ are ⇨ responsible for significant negative impacts on human health ⇦ human genotoxic carcinogens and that there is no identifiable threshold below which these substances do not pose a risk to human health. Impact on human health and the environment occurs via concentrations in ambient air and via deposition. With a view to cost-effectiveness, ambient air concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which would not pose a significant risk to human health, cannot be achieved in specific areas. 🡻 2004/107 recital 11 (adapted) ⇨ new (17)The effects of ⇨ lead, ⇦ arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on human health, including via the food chain, and the environment as a whole, ⌦ also ⌫ occur through concentrations in ambient air and via deposition; the accumulation of these substances in soils and the protection of ground water should be taken into account. In order to facilitate review of this Directive in 2010, the Commission and the Member States should consider promoting research into the effects of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on human health and the environment, particularly via deposition. ⇩ new (18)The average exposure of the population to the pollutants with the highest documented impact on human health, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), should be reduced based on WHO recommendations. To this end, an average exposure reduction obligation should be introduced for these pollutants, in addition to limit values. 🡻 2004/107 recital 4 ⇨ new (19)⇨ The Fitness Check of the Ambient Air Quality Directives (Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC) has shown that limit values are more effective in bringing down pollutant concentrations than target values. ⇦ With the aim of minimising harmful effects on human health, paying particular attention to ⇨ vulnerable groups and ⇦ sensitive populations, and the environment as a whole, of airborne arsenic, cadmium and nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, target⇨ limit ⇦ values should be set ⇨ for the concentration of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, lead, benzene, carbon monoxide, arsenic, cadmium, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air ⇦ , to be attained as far as possible. Benzo(a)pyrene should be used as a marker for the carcinogenic risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air.

⇩ new (20)To allow Member States to prepare for revised air quality standards set by this Directive and to ensure legal continuity, for an interim period limit values should be identical to those set under the repealed Directives until the new limit values start applying. 🡻 2008/50 recital 13 (adapted) ⇨ new (21)Ozone is a transboundary pollutant formed in the atmosphere from the emission of primary pollutants addressed by Directive 2016/2284/EUDirective 2001/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants . Progress towards the air quality targets and long-term objectives for ozone set in this Directive should be determined by the targets and emission ⇨ reduction commitments ⇦ ceilings provided for in Directive 2016/2284/EUDirective 2001/81/EC and, if appropriate, by implementing ⇨ cost-effective measures and ⇦ air quality plans as provided for in this Directive. 🡻 2008/50 recital 12 (adapted) ⇨ new (22)The existing ⇨ ozone ⇦ target values and long-term objectives of ensuring effective protection against harmful effects on human health and vegetation and ecosystems from exposure to ozone should remain unchanged ⇨ should be updated in light of the most recent recommendations of the World Health Organization ⇦ . (23)An alert threshold ⇨ for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and ozone, ⇦ and an information threshold for ozone, should be set for the protection of the general population ⇨, vulnerable ⇦ and sensitive sections, respectively, from brief exposures to elevated ozone concentrations. Those thresholds should trigger the dissemination of information to the public on the risks of exposure and the implementation, if appropriate, of short-term measures to reduce ozone ⇨ pollution ⇦ levels where the alert threshold is exceeded. 🡻 2004/107 recital 7 (adapted) (24)In accordance with Article ⌦ 193 ⌫ 176 of the Treaty, Member States may maintain or introduce more stringent protective measures relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons provided that they are compatible with the Treaty and that they are notified to the Commission. 🡻 2008/50 recital 9 ⇨ new (25)Air quality status should be maintained where it is already good, or improved. Where the ⇨ standards ⇦ objectives for ambient air quality laid down in this Directive are not met ⇨ at risk of not being met, or have not been met, ⇦ Member States should take ⇨ immediate ⇦ action in order to comply with the limit values ⇨ , average exposure reduction obligations ⇦ and critical levels, and where possible, to attain the ⇨ ozone ⇦ target values and long-term objectives. 🡻 2004/107 recital 9

(26)Mercury is a very hazardous substance for human health and the environment. It is present throughout the environment and, in the form of methylmercury, has the capacity to accumulate in organisms, and in particular to concentrate in organisms higher up the food chain. Mercury released into the atmosphere is capable of being transported over long distances. 🡻 2004/107 recital 10 (adapted) ⇨ new (27)The Commission intends to come forward in 2005 with a coherent strategy containing measures to ⌦ Regulation 2017/852 of the European Parliament and the Council aims to ⌫ protect human health and the environment from the release of mercury, based on a life-cycle approach, and taking into account production, use, waste treatment and emissions. In this context, the Commission should consider all appropriate measures with a view to reducing the quantity of mercury in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and thereby the ingestion of mercury via food, and avoiding mercury in certain products. ⇨ Provisions on monitoring mercury in this Directive complement and inform that Regulation. ⇦ 🡻 2008/50 recital 10 ⇨ new (28)The risk posed by air pollution to vegetation and natural ecosystems is most important in places away from urban areas. The assessment of such risks and the compliance with critical levels for the protection of vegetation should therefore focus on places away from built-up areas. ⇨ This assessment should take into account and complement requirements under Directive 2016/2284/EU to monitor the impacts of air pollution on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and to report such impacts. ⇦ 🡻 2008/50 recital 15 (adapted) ⇨ new (29)Contributions from natural sources can be assessed but cannot be controlled. Therefore, where natural contributions to pollutants in ambient air can be determined with sufficient certainty, and where exceedances are due in whole or in part to these natural contributions, these may, under the conditions laid down in this Directive, be subtracted when assessing compliance with air quality limit values ⇨ and average exposure reduction obligations ⇦ . Contributions to exceedances of particulate matter PM10 limit values attributable to winter-sanding or ⌦ winter ⌫ -salting of roads may also be subtracted when assessing compliance with air quality limit values provided that reasonable measures have been taken to lower concentrations. 🡻 2008/50 recital 16 (30)For zones and agglomerations where conditions are particularly difficult, it should be possible to postpone the deadline for compliance with the air quality limit values in cases where, notwithstanding the implementation of appropriate pollution abatement measures, acute compliance problems exist in specific zones and agglomerations. Any postponement for a given zone or agglomeration should be accompanied by a comprehensive plan to be assessed by the Commission to ensure compliance by the revised deadline. The availability of necessary Community measures reflecting the chosen ambition level in the Thematic Strategy on air pollution to reduce emissions at source will be important for an effective emission reduction by the timeframe established in this Directive for compliance with the limit values and should be taken into account when assessing requests to postpone deadlines for compliance. 🡻 2008/50 recital 18 ⇨ new (31)Air quality plans should be developed and updated for zones and agglomerations within which concentrations of pollutants in ambient air exceed the relevant air quality target values or limit values ⇨ , ozone target values or average exposure reduction obligations ⇦ , plus any temporary margins of tolerance, where applicable. Air pollutants are emitted from many different sources and activities. To ensure coherence between different policies, such air quality plans should where feasible be consistent, and integrated with plans and programmes prepared pursuant to Directive 2010/75/EU 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants , Directive (EU) 2016/2284Directive 2001/81/EC, and Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise . Full account will also be taken of the ambient air quality objectives provided for in this Directive, where permits are granted for industrial activities pursuant to Directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control .

⇩ new (32)Air quality plans should also be prepared ahead of 2030 where there is a risk that Member States will not attain the limit values or ozone target value by that date in order to ensure that levels of pollutants are reduced accordingly. 🡻 2008/50 recital 19 ⇨ new (33)Action plans should be drawn up indicating the measures to be taken in the short term where there is a risk of an exceedance of one or more alert thresholds in order to reduce that risk and to limit its duration. When the risk applies to one or more limit values or target values, Member States may, where appropriate, draw up such short-term action plans. In respect of ozone, such short-term action plans should take into account the provisions of Commission Decision 2004/279/EC of 19 March 2004 concerning guidance for implementation of Directive 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to ozone in ambient air. 🡻 2008/50 recital 20 ⇨ new (34)Member States should consult ⇨ cooperate ⇦ with one another if, following significant pollution originating in another Member State, the level of a pollutant exceeds, or is likely to exceed, the relevant air quality ⇨ any limit value, ozone target value, average exposure reduction obligation ⇦ air quality objectives plus the margin of tolerance where applicable or, as the case may be, the alert threshold. The transboundary nature of specific pollutants, such as ozone and particulate matter, may require coordination between neighbouring Member States in drawing up and implementing air quality plans and short-term action plans and in informing the public. Where appropriate, Member States should pursue cooperation with third countries, with particular emphasis on the early involvement of candidate countries. ⇨ The Commission should be timely informed of and invited to assist in any such cooperation. ⇦ 🡻 2008/50 recital 21 ⇨ new (35)It is necessary for the Member States and the Commission to collect, exchange and disseminate air quality information in order to understand better the impacts of air pollution and develop appropriate policies. Up-to-date information on concentrations of all regulated pollutants in ambient air ⇨ as well as air quality plans and short-term action plans ⇦ should also be readily available to the public. 🡻 2008/50 recital 22 ⇨ new (36)⇨ Information on the concentrations and the deposition of the regulated pollutants should be forwarded to the Commission as a basis for regular reports. ⇦ In order to facilitate the handling and comparison of air quality information, data should be made available to the Commission in a standardised form.

🡻 2008/50 recital 23 (37)It is necessary to adapt procedures for data provision, assessment and reporting of air quality to enable electronic means and the Internet to be used as the main tools to make information available, and so that such procedures are compatible with Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community (INSPIRE). 🡻 2008/50 recital 24 (38)It is appropriate to provide for the possibility of adapting the criteria and techniques used for the assessment of the ambient air quality to scientific and technical progress and adapting thereto the information to be provided. ⇩ new (39)As clarified by the case-law of the Court of Justice, Member States may not restrict legal standing to challenge a decision of a public authority to those members of the public concerned who participated in the preceding administrative procedure to adopt that decision. As also clarified by the case-law of the Court of Justice, effective access to justice in environmental matters and effective remedies requires inter alia that members of the public concerned should have the right to ask the court or a competent independent and impartial body to order interim measures to prevent a given instance of pollution. Therefore, it should be specified that legal standing should not be made conditional on the role that the concerned member of the public played during a participatory phase of the decision-making procedures under this Directive. In addition, any review procedure should be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive, and provide for adequate and effective redress mechanisms, including injunctive relief as appropriate. 🡻 2008/50 recital 30 ⇨ new (40)This Directive respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In particular, this Directive seeks to promote the integration into the policies of the Union of a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment in accordance with the principle of sustainable development as laid down in Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ⇨ Where damage to human health has occurred as a result of a violation of Articles 19, 20, 21 of this Directive, Member States should ensure that the individuals affected by such violations are able to claim and obtain compensation for that damage from the relevant competent authority. The rules on compensation, access to justice and penalties set in this Directive have the objective to avoid, prevent and reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment from air pollution, in line with Article 191(1) TFEU. They thus seeks to integrate into the policies of the Union a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment in accordance with the principle of sustainable development as laid down in Article 37 of the Charter, and puts into concrete terms the obligation to protect the right to life and to the integrity of the person laid down in Articles 2 and 3 of the Charter. It also contributes to the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal as laid down in Article 47 of the Charter, in relation to the protection of human health. ⇦ 🡻 2008/50 recital 28 (adapted) The obligation to transpose this Directive into national law should be confined to those provisions which represent a substantive change as compared with the earlier Directives. 🡻 2008/50 recital 29 (adapted) In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better lawmaking , Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interest of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between the Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public. ⇩ new

(41)In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the Member States’ requirements on transmitting information and reporting on air quality under this Directive, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards (i) the establishment of rules relating to information on ambient air quality to be made available by Member States to the Commission as well as timescales in which that information is to be communicated and (ii) to the streamlining of the way data are reported and the reciprocal exchange of information and data from networks and individual sampling points measuring ambient air pollution within Member States. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council. (42)In order to ensure that this Directive continues meeting its objectives, in particular to avoid, prevent and reduce harmful effects from ambient air quality on human health and the environment, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the annexes to this Directive to take account of technical and scientific developments related to air pollutants, their assessment and management, their impacts on human health and the environment and to appropriate information of the public. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 Better Law Making. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. (43)The obligation to transpose this Directive into national law should be confined to those provisions which represent a substantive amendment as compared to the earlier Directives. The obligation to transpose the provisions which are unchanged arises under the earlier Directives. (44)This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for the transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Part B of Annex X. 🡻 2004/107 recital 1 (adapted) On the basis of principles enshrined in Article 175(3) of the Treaty, the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme, adopted by Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council , 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. 🡻 2004/107 recital 2 (adapted) Article 4(1) of Council Directive 96/62/EC of 27 September 1996 on ambient air quality assessment and management requires the Commission to submit proposals for regulating the pollutants listed in Annex I to that Directive taking into account the provisions laid down in paragraphs 3 and 4 of that Article. 🡻 2004/107 recital 5 The target values would not require any measures entailing disproportionate costs. Regarding industrial installations, they would not involve measures beyond the application of best available techniques (BAT) as required by Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control and in particular would not lead to the closure of installations. However, they would require Member States to take all cost-effective abatement measures in the relevant sectors. 🡻 2004/107 recital 6 In particular, the target values of this Directive are not to be considered as environmental quality standards as defined in Article 2(7) of Directive 96/61/EC and which, according to Article 10 of that Directive, require stricter conditions than those achievable by the use of BAT. 🡻 2004/107 recital 8 Where concentrations exceed certain assessment thresholds, monitoring of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and benzo(a)pyrene should be mandatory. Supplementary means of assessment may reduce the required number of sampling points for fixed measurements. Further monitoring of background ambient air concentrations and deposition is foreseen.

🡻 2004/107 recital 13 Information on the concentrations and the deposition of the regulated pollutants should be forwarded to the Commission as a basis for regular reports. 🡻 2004/107 recital 14 Up-to-date information on ambient air concentrations and deposition of regulated pollutants should be readily available to the public. 🡻 2004/107 recital 15 The Member States should lay down rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the provisions of this Directive and ensure that they are implemented. Those penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. 🡻 2004/107 recital 16 The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission . 🡻 2004/107 recital 17 The amendments necessary for adaptation of this Directive to scientific and technical progress should relate solely to criteria and techniques for the assessment of concentrations and deposition of regulated pollutants or detailed arrangements for forwarding information to the Commission. They should not have the effect of modifying the target values either directly or indirectly, 🡻 2008/50 recital 1 (adapted) 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 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. 🡻 2008/50 recital 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.

🡻 2008/50 recital 3 (adapted) Council Directive 96/62/EC of 27 September 1996 on ambient air quality assessment and management , 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 , 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 , Directive 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2002 relating to ozone in ambient air 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 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. 🡻 2008/50 recital 4 (adapted) 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 consideration may be given to the possibility of merging its provisions with those of this Directive. 🡻 2008/50 recital 11 Fine particulate matter (PM2,5) is responsible for significant negative impacts on human health. Further, there is as yet no identifiable threshold below which PM2,5 would not pose a risk. As such, this pollutant should not be regulated in the same way as other air pollutants. The approach should aim at a general reduction of concentrations in the urban background to ensure that large sections of the population benefit from improved air quality. However, to ensure a minimum degree of health protection everywhere, that approach should be combined with a limit value, which is to be preceded in a first stage by a target value. 🡻 2008/50 recital 17 The necessary Community measures to reduce emissions at source, in particular measures to improve the effectiveness of Community legislation on industrial emissions, to limit the exhaust emissions of engines installed in heavy duty vehicles, to further reduce the Member States’ permitted national emissions of key pollutants and the emissions associated with refuelling of petrol cars at service stations, and to address the sulphur content of fuels including marine fuels should be duly examined as a priority by all institutions involved. 🡻 2008/50 recital 18 Air quality plans should be developed for zones and agglomerations within which concentrations of pollutants in ambient air exceed the relevant air quality target values or limit values, plus any temporary margins of tolerance, where applicable. Air pollutants are emitted from many different sources and activities. To ensure coherence between different policies, such air quality plans should where feasible be consistent, and integrated with plans and programmes prepared pursuant to Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants , Directive 2001/81/EC, and Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise . Full account will also be taken of the ambient air quality objectives provided for in this Directive, where permits are granted for industrial activities pursuant to Directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control . 🡻 2008/50 recital 25 (adapted) Since the objectives of this Directive cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States by reason of the transboundary nature of air pollutants and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives. 🡻 2008/50 recital 26

Member States should lay down rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the provisions of this Directive and ensure that they are implemented. The penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. 🡻 2008/50 recital 27 (adapted) Certain provisions of the acts repealed by this Directive should remain in force in order to ensure the continuance of existing air quality limits for nitrogen dioxide until they are replaced from 1 January 2010, the continuance of air quality reporting provisions until new implementing measures are adopted, and the continuance of obligations relating to the preliminary assessments of air quality required under Directive 2004/107/EC. 🡻 2008/50 recital 31 The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission . 🡻 2008/50 recital 32 The Commission should be empowered to amend Annexes I to VI, Annexes VIII to X and Annex XV. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC. 🡻 2008/50 recital 33 (adapted) The transposition clause requires Member States to ensure that the necessary urban background measurements are in place well in time to define the Average Exposure Indicator, in order to guarantee that the requirements related to the assessment of the National Exposure Reduction Target and to the calculation of the Average Exposure Indicator are met, 🡻 2008/50 HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS

🡻 2004/107 Article 1 Objectives The objectives of this Directive shall be to: (a) establish a target value for the concentration of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and benzo(a)pyrene in ambient air so as to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on human health and the environment as a whole; (b) ensure, with respect to arsenic, cadmium, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that ambient air quality is maintained where it is good and that it is improved in other cases; (c) determine common methods and criteria for the assessment of concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air as well as of the deposition of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; (d) ensure that adequate information on concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air as well as on the deposition of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is obtained and ensure that it is made available to the public. ⇩ new Article 1 Objectives 1.This Directive sets out a zero pollution objective for air quality, so that within the Union air quality is progressively improved to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and natural ecosystems, as defined by scientific evidence, thus contributing to a toxic-free environment at the latest by 2050. 2.This Directive sets intermediate limit values, target values, average exposure reduction obligations, average exposure concentration objectives, critical levels, information thresholds, alert thresholds and long-term objectives (‘air quality standards’) to be met by the year 2030, and regularly reviewed thereafter in accordance with Article 3. 3.Furthermore, this Directive contributes to achieving: the Union’s pollution-reduction, biodiversity and ecosystem objectives in accordance with the 8th Environment Action Programme, as set out in Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council. 🡻 2008/50 (adapted) ⇨ new Article 2

⌦ Subject matter ⌫ This Directive lays down ⌦ the following ⌫ measures aimed at the following: 1.⌦ measures ⌫ defining and establishing objectives for ambient air quality designed to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment as a whole; 2.⌦ measures setting common methods and criteria to assess ⌫ assessing the ambient air quality in Member States on the basis of common methods and criteria; 3.⇨ measures for monitoring ⇦ obtaining information on ambient air quality, in order to help combat air pollution and nuisance and to monitor long-term trends and improvements resulting from ⇨ impacts of ⇦ national and Community ⌦ Union and national ⌫ measures ⇨ on ambient air quality ⇦ ; 4.⌦ measures ⌫ ensuring that such ⌦ the ⌫ information on ambient air quality is made available to the public; 5.⌦ measures ⌫ maintaining air quality where it is good and improving it in other cases; 6.⌦ measures ⌫ promoting increased cooperation between the Member States in reducing air pollution. ⇩ new Article 3 Regular review 1. By 31 December 2028, and every 5 years thereafter, and more often if substantial new scientific findings point to the need for it, the Commission shall review the scientific evidence related to air pollutants and their effects on human health and the environment relevant to achieving the objective set in Article 1 and present a report with the main findings to the European Parliament and to the Council. 2. The review shall assess whether applicable air quality standards are still appropriate to achieve the objective of avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects on human health and the environment and whether additional air pollutants should be covered. In order to achieve the objectives set in Article 1, the review shall assess whether this Directive needs to be revised with a view to ensuring alignment with the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines and the latest scientific information. For the purposes of the review, the Commission shall take into account, inter alia, the following: (a)latest scientific information from WHO and other relevant organisations, (b)technological developments impacting air quality and its assessment, (c)air quality situations and associated impacts on human health and the environment in Member States, (d)progress made in implementing national and Union reduction measures for pollutants and improving air quality.

3. The European Environment Agency shall assist the Commission in carrying out the review. 4. Where the Commission considers it appropriate, as a result of the review, it shall present a proposal to revise air quality standards or to cover other air pollutants. 🡻 2008/50 (adapted) ⇨ new Article 42 Definitions For the purposes of this Directive ⌦ , the following definitions apply ⌫ : (1)‘ambient air’ shall mean ⌦ means ⌫ outdoor air in the troposphere, excluding workplaces as defined by ⌦ in Article 2 of Council ⌫ Directive 89/654/EEC where provisions concerning health and safety at work apply and to which members of the public do not have regular access; (2)‘pollutant’ shall mean ⌦ means ⌫ any substance present in ambient air and likely to have harmful effects on human health and/or the environment as a whole; (3)‘level’ shall mean ⌦ means ⌫ the concentration of a pollutant in ambient air or the deposition thereof on surfaces in a given time; 🡻 2004/107 (adapted) Article 2 Definitions For the purposes of this Directive the definitions in Article 2 of Directive 96/62/EC, with the exception of the definition of ‘target value’, shall apply. The objectives of this Directive shall be to: (a)‘target value’ means a concentration in the ambient air fixed with the aim of avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects on human health and the environment as a whole, to be attained where possible over a given period; (4)(b) ‘total or bulk deposition’ means the total mass of pollutants which is transferred fr