Air pollution: ozone in ambient air, emission ceilings

ACT : Commission Decision 2004/279/EC concerning guidance for implementation of Directive 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to ozone in ambient air. CONTENT : to recall, Directive 2002/3/EC establishes long-term objectives, target values, an alert threshold and an information threshold for concentrations of ozone in ambient air. Article 7 of Directive 2002/3/EC requires Member States under particular conditions to draw up short-term action plans, where there is a risk of exceedances of the alert threshold. The guidance developed by the Commission in this respect should provide Member States with examples of measures, the effectiveness of which has been assessed. The Commission should provide Member States with guidelines for an appropriate strategy to measure ozone precursor substances in ambient air. In drawing up the guidance and guidelines in question, the Commission has called upon expertise in the Member States and in the European Environment Agency. Annex I of this Directive consists of general aspects for consideration by Member States when drawing up short-term action plans in accordance with Article 7 of Directive 2002/3/EC. Regional extensions of measures and short-term versus long term measures are also included in Annex I. Annex II deals with short-term measures (examples and experiences). Lastly, Annex III sets out guidelines on a strategy to measure ozone precursors.�