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

Data collected by the Commission on air pollution in the Member States must be made available to the public on request, the Environment Committee decided today. It also called on the Commission to prepare a general report for public consumption summarizing the data collected and outlining the underlying trends in air quality in the European Union. Moreover, should the data supplied by Member States prove inadequate, the Commission should consider whether the measurement of certain pollutants should be made compulsory. This was the nub of the amendments tabled by the committee under the cooperation procedure to the common position adopted by the Council on a proposal for a Council Decision on the measurement and exchange of information on ambient air pollution in Member States. The Commission believes that the question of compulsory measurement should be dealt with in a different text. �