Air quality: improvement of comparability and transparency at European level (reduction of emissions)

The Council's common position incorporates 5 of the 10 amendments accepted by the Commission in its amended proposal, viz.: - a distinction between pollutants covered by the ambient air quality directives, for which the exchange of information is compulsory, and those which are not covered and for which an exchange of information is only required where measurements are taken by the Member States; - changes to Annex I made necessary by the amendment as a whole; - changes to the dates of entry into force of the enacting terms proposed (1 January 1997); - assessment of the system 5 years after the entry into force of the directive. The Council also made various changes to the amended proposal with a view to: - clarifying the quantities on which information is to be exchanged (data calculated) and stipulating that responsibility for implementing the decision is to be shared between the Commission and the bodies designated by the Member States; - clarifying the timetable for the exchange of information on networks and stations between the Member States and the Commission and adopting a more realistic time limit for first transmission, taking account of the time needed to set up the network of stations; - deleting the provision under which the list of pollutants covered by the directive could be amended under a comitology procedure; - simplifying Annexes 2 to 4, particularly as regards the details of some of the information to be supplied. The common position did not incorporate Parliament's amendments concerning: - changes to the title of the proposal; - making information available to the public; - the inclusion of a fourth category for traffic in Annex II.�