Reciprocal exchange of information on air pollution
The Council of the European Union has adopted a Decision establishing a reciprocal exchange of information and data from networks and individual stations measuring ambient air pollution within the Member States. The Decision establishes a procedure for the reciprocal exchange of information on air quality as provided for in the fifth European Community action programme on the environment. The aim is to help combat pollution and nuisance through the monitoring of long-term trends and improvements resulting from national and Community legislation in this field. The information to be communicated to the Commission will concern the characteristics of the measurement stations, the measurement equipment and the operational procedures of the stations, as well as the structure and organization of the networks to which they belong. By July 1997, the Commission will make the existing database, containing the information already collected by its services on the subject, available to the Member States. This will be provided with appropriate software enabling the database to be used and updated. Member States will be requested to correct, amend and/or supplement the information contained in the database and return the updated files to the Commission by 1 October 1998 at the latest. This information will be made available to the public via an information system to be set up by the European Environment Agency. It may also be supplied by the Agency, or by the Member States, on request.