The EU Council has adopted its negotiating position on the October 2022 proposal to revise the Ambient Air Quality Directives to bring EU standards more into line with WHO recommendations in order to ensure cleaner air by 2030 and to meet the goal of ‘zero pollution’ by 2050 (see EUROPE 13051/1).
The text, agreed by the EU27 ambassadors on Thursday 9 November by a qualified majority, seeks to maintain the main ambition of the proposal - to tighten air quality standards to better protect human health - while adding flexibility in the implementation of this future legislation, so as to take into account the Member States’ call for realism (see EUROPE 13206/17).
“Each year, we see around 300 000 premature deaths due to air pollution in Europe. This is unacceptable, we must act now. With today’s agreement, we are setting the basis for cleaner air and a healthier environment in the EU, with improved standards and more effective action to tackle air pollution”, commented Spain’s acting Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, current President of the EU Council.
Flexible compliance with limit values. The EU Council provides for the possibility for Member States to request a postponement of the deadline for a maximum of 10 years, until 1 January 2040 at the latest - in areas where it would be impossible to comply with the directive by the deadline due to site-specific dispersion characteristics, adverse climatic conditions or transboundary contributions to pollution.
This possibility of postponement would also apply if the results of modelling applications show that the limit values cannot be achieved within the given timeframe and if there is a high proportion of low-income households in a Member State with a per capita GDP below the EU average.
Action plans and alert thresholds. For the air quality plans to be drawn up by Member States for zones where pollutant levels exceed the limit values and target values set out in the Directive, as well as for alert thresholds triggering short-term remedial measures, the EU Council is proposing greater flexibility as regards the assessment of ambient air quality. For example, it hopes that the use of modelling applications in addition to fixed measurements will not be compulsory when limit values are exceeded.
Transboundary pollution. The EU Council adds a provision allowing Member States to identify and notify the Commission of exceedances of air quality limits that can be attributed to sources outside the influence of the Member State concerned. This information will be taken into account when assessing whether compliance deadlines should be extended.
Revision clause. The EU Council’s position calls on the European Commission to review air quality standards by 2030 and as often as necessary thereafter, to determine whether they need to be updated on the basis of the latest scientific information, whether more air pollutants need to be covered, and whether further postponement of deadlines or adjustments to provisions on transboundary air pollution should be considered. On the basis of this review, the Commission should then present proposals to revise air quality standards, to include other pollutants and/or to propose other measures to be taken at EU level.
Penalties/compensation for victims. The EU Council wants Member States to establish effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, taking into account the seriousness and duration of the infringement, its possible recurrence and the people and environment affected.
The European Parliament gave its opinion in September (see EUROPE 13249/13).
To see the EU Council’s negotiating mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/9hg (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)