Ambient air quality: common strategy for assessment and management

The Council's common position incorporates 24 of the 37 amendments adopted by the European Parliament and included by the Commission in its amended proposal. The amendments included concerned: - an additional provision governing the revision of limit values and alert thresholds; - a new recital relating to the need for research into the combined effects of pollutants and climate; - the term "sampling"; - the role of the European Environment Agency in implementing the directive; - coordination of measures adopted under this directive with those implemented in connection with the directive on integrated pollution control; - a reference to short-term measures, including the suspension of industrial activities, when there is a risk that limit values will be exceeded; - the inclusion of particulate matter of less than 10 micrometres in Annex I (the Council deleted fluoride and acid deposits and added mercury, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons and nickel in general). However, the Council did not accept the amendments concerning: - a third series of pollutants to be considered at a later stage; - shorter deadlines for proposals relating to CO and benzene; - shorter deadlines for finalizing and submitting air quality improvement plans. The Council also: - abandoned the idea of labeling zones on the basis of the air quality; - introduced the concept of a "target value" for ozone (and only ozone) due to the specific nature of this pollutant; - defined the term "agglomeration"; - added a list of factors to be taken into account when setting limit values/alert thresholds (new Annex); - added a new provision making preliminary data on levels of pollutants available before the specific directives provided for in the directive enter into force; - introduced the principle of maintaining air quality in zones where levels are below the limit value; - replaced the advisory committee by a type IIIa regulatory committee responsible for adapting to technical progress.�