Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air’ (COM(2003) 423 final – 2003/0164(COD))
Date: 2004-02-25
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU environmental policy, air quality, environmental monitoring, environmental standard, hydrocarbon, non-ferrous metal, semi-metal

C 110/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.4.2004

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘proposal for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and poly-
cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air’

(COM(2003) 423 final – 2003/0164(COD))

(2004/C 110/04)

On 29 August 2003, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Articles 95 and 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned
proposal.

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee's work on this subject, adopted its opinion on 5 February 2004. The rapporteur was
Mr McDonogh.

At its 406th plenary session of 25 and 26 February 2004 (meeting of 25 February 2004), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 101 votes with two abstentions:

1. Introduction

Council Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality
1.1
(the Air Quality Framework
assessment and management
Directive) provides a framework for future EC legislation on air
quality.

1.2
Annex 1 of Directive 96/62/EC contains a provision for
regulating ambient air quality of arsenic, cadmium, mercury,
nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by setting
out criteria and techniques for assessing ambient air quality,
and laying down provisions for forwarding information to the
Commission and the public.

1.3
This Commission Proposal fulfils the obligations under
Directive 96/62/EC by introducing legislation for those heavy
metals mentioned in Annex I which are recognised as being
either known or suspected human carcinogens for which no
threshold levels for adverse effects on human health have been
identified.

2. Gist of the proposal

2.1
The Commission proposal recognises there are no cost-
effective measures to attain everywhere the concentration levels
that would not give rise to harmful effects on human health. It
therefore does not strictly follow Directive 96/62/EC which
foresees the setting of binding limit values.

The proposal

2.2
concentrations exceed the following assessment thresholds:

foresees mandatory monitoring where

2.3
Regarding mercury, the Commission considers that the
evidence for total exposure should be reviewed in due course
and that this review should give particular emphasis to source-
receptor relationships and the transformation of mercury in the
environment.

2.4 Member States must inform the Commission and the
the reasons
public on any exceedance of
thereof and any measures taken.

the target value,

3. General comments

3.1
The Committee appreciates that because there are no
known threshold levels for estimating adverse effects on human
the
health, setting targets is especially difficult. Given that
impact on human health and the environment
from these
pollutants occurs via concentrations in ambient air and via
deposition to terrestrial and aquatic environments and that the
deposition to the terrestrial environment can also effect soil
quality and fertility and the contamination of vegetation, the
Committee therefore welcomes the Commission's proposal.

it

3.2
The Committee agrees with the Commission's evaluation
that its proposal is ‘ambitious and practical’. It therefore also
considers that
the objectives should be
reviewed in due course as there are many issues concerning the
fate and behaviour of heavy metals and POP compounds that
in particular with regard to
are still poorly understood,
mercury.

is essential

that

— 6 ng arsenic /m3,

— 5 ng cadmium /m3,

— 20 ng nickel /m3,

— 1 ng Benzo(a) pyrene (BaP) /m3.

Concentrations below these levels would minimise harmful
effects on human health. Therefore, only indicative monitoring
of concentration of these heavy metals at a limited number of
specific sites is required when the above assessment thresholds
are not exceeded.

4. Specific comments

4.1
The Committee underlines the need to recognise that
reported ambient air concentrations in the proposal are mean
values across the EU-15 which are known to vary spatially and
for some pollutants seasonally. For example, the heavier PAH
compound BaP has significantly higher winter concentrations
resulting from increased fuel combustion for domestic heating.
This may result in the exceedence of the target level for a
significant proportion of the year although the annual average
value may show compliance with the threshold.

30.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 110/17

4.1.1
It is also likely that the proposed assessment threshold
values for the metals (and the target value for BaP) will be
exceeded close to certain industrial
installations and in rural
locations during the winter months when demand for space
heating is high. As a consequence, there will be a number of
sub-populations within the EU that may be consistently
exposed to ambient air pollution at levels above the desirable
limits. These proposals, therefore, do not provide adequate
protection (certainly in the short-term) for some members of
the population.

The Committee believes

that as the emission data
4.2
produced in the proposed directive have been taken from the
reference year of 1990, the Commission should consider the
need for including more contemporary data which will identify
trends over the last decade or so. In this way any reductions in
key source groups could also be identified.

4.3
BaP has been chosen as an indicator of carcinogenic
risk, although it is only one of 16 commonly measured priority
PAH compounds. The UN/ECE list, for example, includes three
further indicator compounds. The EESC believes that in order
to ensure that the 4th daughter directive is compatible (and
comparable) with other international agreements (such as the
UN/ECE POPs protocol) other PAH compounds should be
considered for inclusion in the directive.

stove/burner optimisation for controlling BaP emissions would
be beneficial for reducing exposure, particularly in rural areas.
Retrospective upgrades to existing stoves are likely to be exces-
sively expensive but specifications for new stoves, boilers and
heating appliances should be provided to ensure future emis-
sions are reduced.

it

is clear that

The Committee believes that

4.5
further
assessment of the potential sources of these pollutants within
the ten Accession Countries is required and that emissions
from these countries are likely to affect ambient air quality
across the whole of Europe. Accession countries must therefore
be encouraged, and where necessary assisted, to comply with
the directive in a timely manner to ensure that cross-boundary
pollution is minimised.

4.6
The Committee understands that the cost-benefit calcu-
lations suggest that the costs for upgrading key sources would
require considerable investment. This investment could poten-
tially have serious consequences for industry leading to the loss
therefore ensure
of competitiveness. The Commission must
that when implementing the directive, a balance between
economic impacts and positive health benefits must be struck
even if difficult steps may be required to improve air quality,
reduce exposure and improve human health.

4.4
The Committee believes that diffusive sources such as
domestic heating, (important for PAH compounds), are more
difficult
to control and hence incur greater cost. Other
measures aimed at controlling mobile emissions (e.g. improving
fuel quality to reduce particulate emissions) will also help to
It appears that domestic
reduce ambient air concentrations.

4.7
The Committee also believes that an important part of
the implementation of this proposed 4th daughter directive will
be the provision of information to the public on local air
quality issues with respect to these pollutants. It is imperative,
however, that the public are also provided with the necessary
tools to interpret and understand these data.

Brussels, 25 February 2004.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH