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Air Quality Assessment

In order to preserve and, if necessary, improve air quality, experts monitor and assess it on a regular basis. For this purpose the Member States of the European Union have established common provisions. These provisions are based on Council Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality assessment and management. In recent years, a number of relevant European directives have been transposed into German law.
 

Limit values - laws and regulations

Limit values and alert thresholds were determined for different air pollutants in so-called daughter directives. These values normally lie well below the current values. The existing requirements for suspended particulate matter were replaced by new limit values for fine particulate matter (PM₁₀). Before the limit values become mandatory, a margin of tolerance exists for a transitional period. The margin of tolerance establishes an annually decreasing range by which the limit value may be exceeded during this transitional period.
 

 
 

Air quality assessment

Air quality assessment in the Member States of the European Union is conducted on the basis of common criteria. Its aim is to provide information for efficient and long-term improvement of air quality. In order to facilitate comparisons among different Member States, the directives lay down binding rules on the siting and minimum number of air quality measuring stations, data quality objectives and air quality assessment. They also provide reference methods for the assessment of different concentrations of air pollutants. On the basis of these provisions, the Commission receives annual air quality assessments from the Member States.
 

Improvement of air quality - plans or programmes

If a certain pollutant exceeds the limit value plus the margin of tolerance in a zone, the competent authority has to draw up a plan or a programme (UBALLL: national list of all plans or programmes and action plans available on the Internet ). The plans and programmes identify the measures necessary to achieve the limit value in a predetermined period of time.
 

Exceedance of limit values - action plans

If it is expected that a certain pollutant will exceed the limit value in a zone, the competent authority has to develop an action plan. Such plans specify measures designed to reduce the duration and extent of such exceedances. In Germany, it is the German States that are responsible for air quality and action plans.

UBALLL: national list of all plans or programmes and action plans available on the Internet

 

 

Air quality documents