Ambient air quality assessment and management
The European Commission has published an amended proposal for a Council Directive on ambient air quality assessment and management. This introduces a number of amendments to the Commission's original proposal for a Directive in this area introduced in 1994 (OJ No C 216 of 6.8.1994 p. 4). The aim of the Directive is to establish specific quality objectives for the assessment and management of ambient air quality. The amendments introduced by the present proposal make provisions for the involvement of the European Environmental Agency in this work and bring forward the deadline for the setting of specific ambient air quality objectives for benzene and carbon monoxide to 30 June 1998. The amended proposal specifies that Member States should make provisions for the temporary suspension of activities which contribute towards exceeding the set limit values, including the prohibition of road traffic, in cases where potential problems are foreseen. It further calls on the Commission to examine the need and procedures for setting air quality objectives for other substances not included in the initial proposal (dioxins, VOC, methane, ammonia, nitric acid and poly-aromatic hydorcarbons).