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I L O N A J A N C A R O V A
AIR PROTECTION
SUBSTANTIVE EUROPEAN
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Environmental problems related to air :
• Air pollution (emissions of polluting substances)
• Ozone layer depletion
• Greenhouse effect (global climate change)
LEGISLATION ON AIR POLLUTION INTERNATIONAL
BACKGROUND
1979 Geneva Convention on Long-range
transboundary air pollution
• Protocol EMEP (monitoring, evaluation)
• Protocol of Helsinki (SOx)
• Protocol of Sofia (Nox)
• Protocol of Aarhus (heavy metals)
• Protocol of Gothenburg (acidification,
eutrophication, ground-level ozone)
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EU LEGISLATION ON AIR POLLUTION
A/ Regulation of sources of pollution
B/ Air quality standards
EU LEGISLATION ON AIR POLLUTIONAMBIENT
AIR QUALITY
1980s
• Directive 80/779 (SOx)
• Directive 82/884 (lead)
• Directive 85/203 (NOx)
1990s
• Directive 92/72
• Framework Directive 96/62 on ambient air quality
assessment and management
• replaced by
• Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner
air for Europe
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
Aim (Art. 1):
1. 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. assessing the ambient air quality in Member States on the
basis of common methods and criteria;
3. 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 national and
Community measures;
4. ensuring that such information on ambient air quality is
made available to the public;
5. maintaining air quality where it is good and improving it in
other cases;
6. promoting increased cooperation between the Member
States in reducing air pollution.
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DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
• Ambient air – outdoor air in the troposphere, excluding
workplaces
• Pollutant – any substance present in the ambient air or the
deposition thereof on surfaces in a given time
• Limit value - a level of concentration of a pollutant in
ambient air fixed on the basis of scientific knowledge, with
the aim of avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects on
human health and/or the environment as a whole, to be
attained within a given period and not to be exceeded once
attained
• Margin of tolerance - the percentage of the limit value by
which that value may be exceeded
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
• "limit value" - a level fixed on the basis of scientific knowledge,
with the aim of avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects
on human health and/or the environment as a whole, to be
attained within a given period and not to be exceeded once
attained;
• "alert threshold" - a level beyond which there is a risk to human
health from brief exposure for the population as a whole and at
which immediate steps are to be taken by the Member States;
• „information threshold" - a level beyond which there is a risk to
human health from brief exposure for particularly sensitive
sections of the population and for which immediate and
appropriate information is necessary;
• "critical level" - a level fixed on the basis of scientific knowledge,
above which direct adverse effects may occur on some
receptors, such as trees, other plants or natural ecosystems but
not on humans;
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
Limit values for the protection of human health that are not to be
exceeded:
• Sulphur dioxide
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Particulate matter (PM10 )
• Lead
• Benzen
• Carbon monoxide
(Art. 13 in connection with Annex XI)
Averaging period: 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, calendar year
Duties for MS to ensure that, levels of thesepollutants in ambient
air do not exceed the limit values laid down in Annex XI.(Art.13)
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DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
Alert thresholds for the protection of human health
(Art. 13, Annex XII)
• sulphur dioxide
• nitrogen dioxide
Information tresholds (Annex XII)
MS - duty to inform the public
- duty to inform Commission(Art. 19)
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
Critical levels for the protection of vegetation
(Art. 14, Annex XIII)
• sulphur dioxide
• nitrogen dioxide
MS ensure compliance with critical levels
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
• "target value" - a level fixed with the aim of
avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects on
human health and/or the environment as a whole,
to be attained where possible over a given period;
• "long-term objective" - a level to be attained in the
long term, save where not achievable through
proportionate measures, with the aim of providing
effective protection of human health and the
environment;
• PM2,5 MS duties
• Ground level ozone (Art. 16-18)
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DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
• Air quality plans - for zones or agglomerations, where
the levels of pollutants in ambient air exceed any limit
value or target value, plus any relevant margin of
tolerance
- must be communicated to the
Commission
appropriate measures to achieve the limit/s as soon as
possible
appropriate measures, so that the exceedance period
can be kept as short as possible
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
Short term action plans - for zones or agglomerations,
where is a risk that the levels of pollutants will exceed
one or more of the alert thresholds specified in Annex
XII:
• measures to be taken in the short term in order to
reduce the risk or duration of such an exceedance
• action plans provide for effective measures to
control and, where necessary, suspend activities
which contribute to the risk of the respective limit
values or target values or alert threshold being
exceeded
• must be made public
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC
Information and reporting
A/ Info for the public on:
• ambient air quality
• any exemptions and/or postponement decisions
• air quality plans and programmes
• annual reports for all pollutants covered by the Directive
B/ Info reported to the Commission:
• info on ambient air quality
• the changes made in that year to the list and delimitation of
zones and agglomerations established under Article 4;
• the list of zones and agglomerations in which the levels of one
or more pollutants are higher than the limit values plus the
margin of tolerance where applicable or higher than target
values or critical levels
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CASE C-237/07
DIETER JANECEK V FREISTAAT BAYERN
• 1. Article 7(3) of Council Directive 96/62/EC, as amended,
must be interpreted as meaning that, where there is a risk that
the limit values or alert thresholds may be exceeded, persons
directly concerned must be in a position to require the
competent national authorities to draw up an action plan,
even though, under national law, those persons may have
other courses of action available to them for requiring those
authorities to take measures to combat atmospheric pollution.
• 2. The Member States are obliged, subject to judicial review
by the national courts, only to take such measures – in the
context of an action plan and in the short term – as are
capable of reducing to a minimum the risk that the limit values
or alert thresholds may be exceeded and of ensuring a
gradual return to a level below those values or thresholds,
taking into account the factual circumstances and all
opposing interests.
• Where it is apparent that conformity with the limit values for nitrogen
dioxide established in Annex XI to Directive 2008/50 cannot be achieved
in a given zone or agglomeration of a Member State by 1 January 2010,
the date specified in that annex, and that Member State has not applied
for postponement of that deadline under Article 22(1) of Directive
2008/50, the fact that an air quality plan which complies with the second
subparagraph of Article 23(1) of the directive has been drawn up, does
not, in itself, permit the view to be taken that that Member State has
nevertheless met its obligations under Article 13 of the directive.
•
• Where a Member State has failed to comply with the requirements of the
second subparagraph of Article 13(1) of Directive 2008/50 and has not
applied for a postponement of the deadline as provided for by Article 22
of the directive, it is for the national court having jurisdiction, should a case
be brought before it, to take, with regard to the national authority, any
necessary measure, such as an order in the appropriate terms, so that the
authority establishes the plan required by the directive in accordance with
the conditions laid down by the latter.
CLIENTEARTH V THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS.
.
EU LEGISLATION ON AIR POLLUTION –
REGULATION OF SOURCES OF POLLUTION
• Directive 2001/81 on national emission ceilings for
certain atmospheric pollutants 2016/2284
• Directive 2001/81/EC is repealed with effect from 1 July
2018.
covers all emissions resulting from human activity from
the territory of MS and their exclusive economic zones
irrespective of the source
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EU LEGISLATION ON AIR POLLUTION –
REGULATION OF SOURCES OF POLLUTION
The national emission ceilings are to be attained through
reductions of the emissions of various sources:
• industrial plants (e.g. energy generation, waste
incineration) - Directive 2001/80(large combustion p.)
- Directive 2000/76 (waste incineration)
- Directive 2008/1 (IPPC)
- Directive 2010/75 on idustrial emissions
(IED)
• mobile sources (cars, boats, aircrafts)
DIRECTIVE 2001/81
ON NATIONAL EMISSION CEILINGS
The objective:
• to limit emissions of acidifying and eutrophying
pollutants and ozone precursors in order to improve
the protection of the environment and human
health in EU
Pollutants covered
2001/81: 2016/2284:
• SO2 + PM 2,5
• Nox + other pollutants
• VOC reffered to I.
• NH3 in Annex
DIRECTIVE 2001/81
ON NATIONAL EMISSION CEILINGS
• EU emission ceilings for SO2, NOx and VOC (temporary)
• Annex II
• National emission ceilings for SO2, NOx, VOC, NH3
• Annex I
• to be attained by 2010
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DIRECTIVE 2001/81
ON NATIONAL EMISSION CEILINGS
• National emission ceiling means the maximum amount
of a substance expressed in kilotonnes, which may be
emitted from a Member State in a calendar year;
• Critical level means the concentration of pollutants in
the atmosphere above which direct adverse effects on
receptors, such as human beings, plants, ecosystems or
materials, may occur, according to present knowledge
• Critical load means a quantitative estimate of an
exposure to one or more pollutants below which
significant adverse effects on specified sensitive
elements of the environment do not occur, according to
present knowledge;
DIRECTIVE 2001/81
ON NATIONAL EMISSION CEILINGS
Duties of MS:
• to limit their annual national emissions of the pollutants to
amounts not greater than the emission ceilings set in
Annex I by 2010
• not to exceed emission ceilings in any year after 2010
• to draw up national emission reduction programmes
(Art. 6)
• to make an inventory of emissions taking place on their
territory (Art. 7)
• to report those programmes and inventories to the
Commission and to the European Environment Agency
DIRECTIVE 2010/75
ON INDUSTRIAL EMISSIONS
Repealing :
• Directive 2000/76/EC
• Directive 2008/1/EC
with effect from 7 January 2014,
• Directive 2001/80/EC
with effect from 1 January 2016
Directive 2010/75 on Emissions from industrial
installations (IED)
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DIRECTIVE 2010/75
ON INDUSTRIAL EMISSIONS
• IED integrates 7 directives (78/176/EEC, 82/883/EEC,
92/112/EEC, 1999/13/EC, 2000/76/EC and
2008/1/EC, 2001/80/EC)
• Scope of IED:
• industrial activities giving rise to pollution referred
to in Chapters II to VI (Annex I.)
• directive shall not apply to research activities,
development activities or the testing of new
products and processes.
DIRECTIVE 2010/75
ON INDUSTRIAL EMISSIONS
IED requirements:
• permit for all installations covered by the directive
• emission limit values
• application of BAT
• exchange of information in BAT between MS, industries
and NGOs
• special provisions for large combustion plants and for
waste incineration and co-incineration plants
• special provisions for installations using solvents
• participation of the public
• rules on incidents and accidents
• environmental quality standards
REGULATION OF POLLUTION CAUSED
BY MOBILE SOURCES OF POLLUTION
Directive 70/220 on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to measures to be taken against
air pollution by gases from positive-ignition engines of
motor vehicles
• no MS may refuse type-approval to vehicles whose
emissions meet the standards laid down in the annexes
to the directive
• replaced by
Regulation 715/2007 on type-approval of motor vehicles
with respect to emissions from light passenger and
commercial vehicles (Euro 5 and Euro 6)
• rules for the harmonized introduction of the Euro 5 and
Euro 6 emissions standards
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REGULATION OF SUBSTANCES
Directive 2009/30/EC
• rules on the specifications various fuels have to
meet so that they can be marketed throughout the
European Union (sulphur content etc.)
Paints directive 2004/42
• intends to limit emissions of VOC from paints and
varnishes (contains limit values for VOCs)
• MS must ensure that only paints that meet the limit
values are placed on the market (Art. 3)
• exemption for restoration purposes