Strategic Moves - Regional Environmental Center for Central and ...

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C H A P T E R 4
E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T A N D T H E E U A C C E S S I O N P R O C E S S
BOX 4: Investment implications of the Directive on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe
The conducting of preliminary assessments and the continuous monitoring of ambient air quality require public
sector investments to establish air quality monitoring equipment and modelling capacity. In areas with bad ambient
air quality, it may be difficult to identify investment projects before conducting the assessments. In areas in
which levels of pollutants are above the permitted norms, public and private sector investments are needed in
order to reduce pollutant emissions and to achieve compliance.
S T R AT E G I C M O V E S
Achieving and maintaining compliance with EC policies and legislation on
air quality management presents a major challenge to candidate countries: in
order to minimise the associated administrative burden and costs, this challenge
needs to be managed in a systematic and cost-effective manner. The Handbook
on the Implementation of the EC Environmental Acquis (2008) provides guidance
on efficient implementation procedures. A checklist of key questions to be
considered when implementing the directives and preparing corresponding
strategies is provided.
New developments in the EU air acquis
The Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (2008/
50/EC), adopted in 2008, merges most existing legislation into a single directive
with no change to existing air quality objectives 7 , with the exception of the fourth
daughter directive relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons in ambient air. The directive extends existing standards to include
objectives for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), including the limit value and
exposure-related objectives (exposure concentration obligation and exposure reduction
targets). It introduces the possibility to discount natural sources of pollution
when assessing compliance against limit values.
Implementing the directive
The implementation of the directive involves a similar procedure to that for
the Air Quality Framework Directive. The first step should be the designation
of the competent authorities and bodies responsible for implementing the directive,
assessing ambient air quality, approving the measuring devices, ensuring
the accuracy of measuring devices and their compatibility with European
quality requirements, assuring overall standards, analysing assessment methods
and coordinating Community-wide quality assurance programmes on their territory.
The second step is to develop a system for assessing the quality of ambient
air based on common methods and criteria. A system should also be
developed for gathering, reporting and publishing information, including the
dissemination of that information to the public.