Commission proposes measures to improve air quality
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a directive on national emissions ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants, and a proposal for a directive relating to ozone in ambient air. The national emissions ceilings directive would, for the first time, set individual limits for each Member State's total emissions in 2010 of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and ammonia, which are responsible for acidification, eutrophication and ozone formation in the lower atmosphere. Member States will need to determine and introduce the most appropriate action for their own circumstances. The proposal concerning ozone in ambient air is the third proposal for a daughter directive under the Air Quality Framework Directive, adopted in September 1996. The proposal will introduce ambitious targets for limiting ozone concentrations in ambient air, and the reporting of findings from monitoring ozone concentrations to the public. According to the European Commission, DG XII, the proposed emissions ceilings directive should, in combination with other legislation already in place or in development, ensure the following differences in 2010 compared with 1990, which is taken as a baseline year: - Health-related ozone exposure will be down by 75%; - Vegetation - related ozone exposure will decrease by more than 50%; - The EU ecosystem area exposed to further acidification will have shrunk from 37 million hectares to 4.3 million hectares; - The EU ecosystems area exposed to further soil eutrophication will have been reduced to approximately 42 million hectares, around 30% down on the 1990 figure. The Commission would report to the Council and the European Parliament on the implementation of the proposed directives by the end of 2004.