2024-08-19

New Directive on Air Quality in the European Union

In April 2024, the EU Parliament adopted a provisional agreement with the EU countries on improved air quality in the EU. For a formal adoption, the text needs to be translated and confirmed by the Parliament and approved by the EU Council. These final pieces are expected to fall in place in October 2024.

New Air Quality Standards

The new directive replaces the current directives on air quality 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC, as amended. From a standards perspective, the new directive reduces the limit values for different types of air pollutants and aligns them with the new WHO limits from 2021. In several cases, the reductions are significant. PM2.5 is emphasised and now has its own limits. Alarm thresholds for PM10 and PM2.5 are also introduced. The management of assessment thresholds is simplified with only one threshold per pollutant. The thresholds are lowered in most cases, in some cases significantly.

The requirement for the number of measurement sites is doubled for the lowest population zone. The possibility to halve the number of measurement sites in favour of modelling, currently allowed for concentrations between the lower and upper assessment thresholds, is changed to apply if the concentration is above the threshold but below the limit value. The proposal also includes clearer wording on "super stations" for urban and regional background with more monitored parameters, including ultrafine particles.

Consequences for Monitoring Equipment

For several types of air pollutants, it is not just about new levels of limit values but there are also new limits for new averaging times and new requirements on measurement uncertainty. This calls for reviews of the present instruments used for air quality monitoring, and potentially also updates of some of the instruments being used. OPSIS (and presumably other instrument suppliers) are currently evaluating what the new standards and requirements will mean for instrument certifications.

Timing

The individual EU member states will have two years from the date of publication of the new directive to transpose the directive into laws, regulations, and administrative provisions. The new limit values must be attained by January 1, 2030. OPSIS will of course be ready with approved measuring equipment under the new directive well before then.

Author

Bengt Löfstedt
OPSIS AB

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