COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION
of 12 December 2011
laying down rules for Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the reciprocal exchange of information and reporting on ambient air quality
(notified under document C(2011) 9068)
(2011/850/EU)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air (1), and in particular Article 5(4) thereof,
Having regard to Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (2), and in particular Article 28(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Directive 2004/107/EC lays down target values to be met by a certain date, determines common methods and criteria for the assessment of the listed pollutants, lays down the information that needs to be transmitted to the Commission and ensures that adequate information on concentration levels of those pollutants is made available to the public. It requires that detailed arrangements for forwarding the ambient air quality information are adopted.
(2)
Directive 2008/50/EC establishes the framework for the assessment and management of ambient air quality. It provides that the information on ambient air quality and the timescales in which such information is to be made available by Member States are to be laid down for the reporting and the reciprocal exchange of information on air quality. It also requires that ways are identified to streamline how such information are reported and exchanged.
(3)
Council Decision 97/101/EC of 27 January 1997 establishing a reciprocal exchange of information and data from networks and individual stations measuring ambient air pollution within the Member States (3) lists the information on air quality which Member States are to provide in view of the reciprocal exchange.
(4)
Directive 2008/50/EC provides that Decision 97/101/EC is to be repealed with effect from the end of the second calendar year following the entry into force of the implementing measures on transmission of information and reporting. Accordingly, the provisions of Decision 97/101/EC should be reflected in this Decision.
(5)
The scope of this Decision covers the annual reporting on ambient air quality assessment and the submission of information on plans and programmes in relation to limit values for certain pollutants in ambient air currently covered by Commission Decision 2004/224/EC of 20 February 2004 laying down arrangements for the submission of information on plans or programmes required under Council Directive 96/62/EC in relation to limit values for certain pollutants in ambient air (4) and Commission Decision 2004/461/EC of 29 April 2004 laying down a questionnaire to be used for annual reporting on ambient air quality assessment under Council Directives 96/62/EC and 1999/30/EC and under Directives 2000/69/EC and 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5). Accordingly, in the interest of clarity and consistency of Union legislation, those Decisions should be repealed.
(6)
An Internet interface called the ambient air quality portal should be created by the Commission, assisted by the European Environment Agency, where Member States should make the air quality information available and where the public has access to the environmental information made available by Member States.
(7)
To streamline the amount of information made available by Member States, to maximise the usefulness of such information and to reduce the administrative burden, Member States should be required to make the information available in a standardised, machine-readable form. The Commission, assisted by the European Environment Agency, should develop such a standardised machine-readable form in line with the requirements of Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) (6). It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level.
(8)
To reduce the administrative burden and the scope for errors, Member States should use an electronic, Internet-based tool accessible through the ambient air quality portal when making information available. That tool should be used to check the consistency of the information, the data quality and to aggregate the primary data. Where this Decision requires information to be made available in aggregate form, the tool should therefore undertake this aggregation. Member States should be able to use the tool independently from making available the ambient air quality information to the Commission to fulfil a reporting obligation or to exchange ambient air quality data.
(9)
The European Environment Agency should assist the Commission, as appropriate, with the management of the ambient air quality portal and the development of the tool for information consistency, data quality and aggregation of primary data. The European Environment Agency should in particular assist the Commission in the monitoring of the data repository, as well as the analysis relating to fulfilment by the Member States of their obligations under Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC.
(10)
It is necessary for the Member States and the Commission to collect, exchange and assess up-to-date air quality information in order to understand better the impacts of air pollution and develop appropriate policies. In order to facilitate the handling and comparison of up-to-date air quality information, the up-to-date information should be made available to the Commission in the same standardised form as validated data within a reasonable timeframe after it has been made available to the public.
(11)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Ambient Air Quality Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Subject matter
This Decision establishes rules implementing Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC as regards:
(a)
Member States obligations to report on the assessment and management of ambient air quality;
(b)
Member States reciprocal exchange of information concerning networks and stations, and the measurements of air quality obtained from those stations that are selected by Member States for the purpose of reciprocal exchange from amongst existing stations.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Decision, and in addition to the definitions laid down in Article 2 of Directive 2004/107/EC, Article 3 of Directive 2007/2/EC, and Article 2 of and Annex VII to Directive 2008/50/EC, the following definitions shall apply:
(1)
‘station’ means a location where measurements or samples are taken at one or more sampling points at the same site within an area of approximately 100 m2;
(2)
‘network’ means an organisational structure performing assessment of ambient air quality by measuring at one or more stations;
(3)
‘measurement configuration’ means the technical facilities used for the measurement of one pollutant or one of its compounds at a certain station;
(4)
‘measurement data’ means information on the concentration or deposition level of a specific pollutant obtained by measurements;
(5)
‘modelling data’ means information on the concentration or deposition level of a specific pollutant obtained through numerical simulation of physical reality;
(6)
‘objective estimation data’ means information on the concentration or deposition level of a specific pollutant obtained through expert analysis and may include use of statistical tools;
(7)
‘primary data’ means information on the concentration or deposition level of a specific pollutant at the highest time resolution considered in this Decision;
(8)
‘primary up-to-date assessment data’ means primary data collected with the frequency appropriate to each pollutant assessment method and made available to the public without delay;
(9)
‘ambient air quality portal’ means a webpage managed by the Commission assisted by the European Environment Agency, through which information related to the implementation of this Decision including the data repository is provided;
(10)
‘data repository’ means an information system, linked to the ambient air quality portal and managed by the European Environment Agency, containing air quality information and data made available through national data reporting and exchange nodes under the control of the Member States;
(11)
‘data type’ means a descriptor by which similar data to be used for different purposes is categorised as set out in Part A of Annex II to this Decision;
(12)
‘environmental objective’ means an ambient air quality objective to be attained within a given period, or where possible over a given period respectively or in the long term as laid down in Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC.
CHAPTER II
COMMON PROVISIONS ON THE PROCESS FOR TRANSMITTING INFORMATION AND ON QUALITY CONTROL
Article 3
Ambient air quality portal and data repository
1. The Commission, assisted by the European Environment Agency, shall establish a data repository and make it accessible through the ambient air quality portal (hereinafter referred to as ‘the portal’).
2. Member States shall make available the information used for reporting and reciprocal exchange of information to the data repository in accordance with Article 5.
3. The European Environment Agency shall manage the data repository.
4. The public shall have access to the data repository free of charge.
5. Each Member State shall nominate a person or persons responsible for the delivery on its behalf to the data repository of each reported and exchanged information. Only nominated persons shall make available the information to be reported or exchanged.
6. Each Member State shall communicate the name of the person or persons referred to in paragraph 5 to the Commission.
Article 4
Encoding of information
The Commission, assisted by the European Environment Agency, shall on the portal make available to Member States the standardised machine-readable description of how to encode the information required by this Decision.
Article 5
Procedure for making information available
1. Member States shall make available to the data repository the information required by this Decision in accordance with the data requirements set out in Part A of Annex I. That information shall be automatically processed by an electronic tool.
2. The tool referred to in paragraph 1 shall be used to perform the following functions:
(a)
a consistency check of the information which is to be made available;
(b)
a check of the primary data relative to the specific data quality objectives specified in Annex IV to Directive 2004/107/EC and Annex I to Directive 2008/50/EC;
(c)
the aggregation of primary data according to the rules set out in Annex I to this Decision and Annexes VII and XI to Directive 2008/50/EC.
3. Where aggregated data is to be made available pursuant to Articles 6 to 14, they shall be generated by the tool referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
4. The Commission shall acknowledge the receipt of the information.
5. In case a Member State wants to update information, it shall describe the differences between the updated and original information and the reasons for the update when making the updated information available in the data repository.
The Commission shall acknowledge the receipt of the updated information. After that acknowledgment, the updated information shall be considered as the official information.
CHAPTER III
MAKING AVAILABLE MEMBER STATES’ INFORMATION ON AMBIENT AIR QUALITY
Article 6
Zones and agglomerations
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part B of Annex II to this Decision on the delimitation and type of zones and agglomerations established in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 2004/107/EC and Article 4 of Directive 2008/50/EC and in which the assessment and management of air quality is to be carried out in the following calendar year.
For zones and agglomerations to which an exemption or a postponement applies pursuant to Article 22 of Directive 2008/50/EC, the information made available shall include an indication thereof.
2. Member States shall make the information referred to in paragraph 1 available to the Commission no later than 31 December of each calendar year. Member States may indicate that there have been no changes to the information previously made available.
3. Where changes are made to the delimitation and type of zones and agglomerations, the Member States shall inform the Commission thereof no later than 9 months after the end of the calendar year the changes were made.
Article 7
Assessment regime
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part C of Annex II on the assessment regime to be applied in the following calendar year for each pollutant within individual zones and agglomerations in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 2004/107/EC and Articles 5 and 9 of Directive 2008/50/EC.
2. Member States shall make the information referred to in paragraph 1 available to the Commission no later than 31 December of each calendar year. Member States may indicate that there have been no changes to the information previously made available.
Article 8
Methods for the demonstration and subtraction of exceedances attributable to natural sources or to winter-sanding or -salting
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part D of Annex II on the methods used for the demonstration and subtraction of exceedances attributable to natural sources or to winter-sanding or -salting applied within individual zones and agglomerations according to Articles 20 and 21 of Directive 2008/50/EC.
2. Member States shall make the information referred to in paragraph 1 available to the Commission for a full calendar year no later than 9 months after the end of each calendar year.
Article 9
Assessment methods
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part D of Annex II on the quality and traceability of the assessment methods applied.
2. Member States shall make the information referred to in paragraph 1 available to the Commission for a full calendar year no later than 9 months after the end of each calendar year.
3. Where in a particular zone or agglomeration fixed measurement is mandatory according to Article 4 of Directive 2004/107/EC and Articles 6 and 9 and Article 10(6) of Directive 2008/50/EC, the information shall include at least the following:
(a)
the measurement configuration;
(b)
the demonstration of equivalence where a non-reference method is used;
(c)
the sampling point location, its description and classification;
(d)
the documentation of data quality.
4. Where in a particular zone or agglomeration indicative measurement is applied in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 2004/107/EC and Articles 6 and 9 and Article 10(6) of Directive 2008/50/EC, the information shall include at least the following:
(a)
the measurement method applied;
(b)
the sampling points and the coverage area;
(c)
the validation method;
(d)
the documentation of data quality.
5. Where in a particular zone or agglomeration modelling techniques are applied in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 2004/107/EC and Articles 6 and 9 of Directive 2008/50/EC, the information shall include at least the following:
(a)
the description of the modelling system and its inputs;
(b)
the model validation through measurements;
(c)
the coverage area;
(d)
the documentation of data quality.
6. Where in a particular zone or agglomeration objective estimation is applied in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 2004/107/EC and Articles 6 and 9 of Directive 2008/50/EC, the information shall include at least the following:
(a)
the description of the estimation method;
(b)
the documentation of data quality.
7. Member States shall also make available the information set out in Part D of Annex II on the quality and traceability of the assessment methods applied, for the networks and stations selected by the Member States for the purpose of the reciprocal exchange of information as referred to in point (b) of Article 1 for the pollutants listed in Part B of Annex I and where available for the additional pollutants listed in Part C of Annex I and for the additional pollutants listed on the portal for that purpose. Paragraphs 1 to 6 of this Article shall apply to the exchanged information.
Article 10
Primary validated assessment data and primary up-to-date assessment data
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part E of Annex II on primary validated assessment data for all sampling points where measurement data is collected for the purpose of the assessment as indicated by Member States according to Article 9 for the pollutants listed in Parts B and C of Annex I.
Where in a particular zone or agglomeration modelling techniques are applied, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part E of Annex II at the highest time resolution available.
2. The primary validated assessment data shall be made available to the Commission for a full calendar year as complete time series no later than 9 months after the end of each calendar year.
3. Member States shall, where they make use of the possibility provided for in Articles 20(2) and 21(3) of Directive 2008/50/EC, make available information on the quantification of the contribution from natural sources pursuant to Article 20(1) of Directive 2008/50/EC or from the winter-sanding or -salting of roads pursuant to Article 21(1) and (2) of Directive 2008/50/EC.
The information shall include:
(a)
the spatial extent of the subtraction;
(b)
the quantity of the primary validated assessment data made available according to paragraph 1 of this Article that can be attributed to natural sources or winter-sanding or -salting;
(c)
the results of the application of the methods reported according to Article 8.
4. Member States shall also make available the information set out in Part E of Annex II on primary up-to-date assessment data for the networks and stations selected by the Member States for the specific purpose of making available up-to-date information amongst the networks and stations selected by the Member States for the purpose of the reciprocal exchange of information as referred to in point (b) of Article 1 for the pollutants listed in Part B of Annex I and where available for the additional pollutants listed in Part C of Annex I and for the additional pollutants listed on the portal for that purpose.
5. Member States shall also make available the information set out in Part E of Annex II on primary validated assessment data for the networks and stations selected by the Member States for the purpose of the reciprocal exchange of information as referred to in point (b) of Article 1 for the pollutants listed in Part B of Annex I and where available for the additional pollutants listed in Part C of Annex I and for the additional pollutants listed on the portal for that purpose. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article shall apply to the exchanged information.
6. The primary up-to-date assessment data pursuant to paragraph 4 shall be made available to the Commission on a provisional basis with the frequency appropriate to each pollutant assessment method and within a reasonable timeframe after the data has been made available to the public according to Article 26 of Directive 2008/50/EC, for the pollutants specified for that purpose in Part B of Annex I to this Decision.
The information shall include:
(a)
assessed concentration levels;
(b)
a status indication on the quality control.
7. The primary up-to-date information made available pursuant to paragraph 4 shall be coherent with the information made available pursuant to Articles 6, 7 and 9.
8. Member States may update the primary up-to-date assessment data made available pursuant to paragraph 4 following further quality control. The updated information shall replace the original information and its status shall be clearly indicated.
Article 11
Aggregated validated assessment data
1. The tool referred to in Article 5(1) shall generate the information set out in Part F of Annex II on aggregated validated assessment data, on the basis of the information made available by Member States on primary validated assessment data according to Article 10.
2. For pollutants with mandatory monitoring requirements, the information generated by the tool shall consist of aggregated measured concentration levels for all sampling points on which the Member States shall make information available pursuant to Article 9(3)(c).
3. For pollutants with defined environmental objectives, the information generated by the tool shall consist of the concentration levels expressed in the metric associated with the defined environmental objective set out in Part B of Annex I and shall include:
(a)
the annual average, where an annual average target or limit value is defined;
(b)
the total hours in exceedance where an hourly limit value is defined;
(c)
the total days in exceedance where a daily limit value is defined, or the percentile 90,4 for PM10 in the particular case when random measurements are applied instead of continuous measurements;
(d)
the total days in exceedance where a maximum daily eight-hour mean target or limit value is defined;
(e)
the AOT40 as defined in Part A of Annex VII to Directive 2008/50/EC in case of the ozone target value for the protection of vegetation;
(f)
the Average Exposure Indicator in case of the PM2,5 exposure reduction target and the exposure concentration obligation.
Article 12
Attainment of environmental objectives
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part G of Annex II on the attainment of environmental objectives set by Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC.
2. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made available to the Commission for a full calendar year no later than 9 months after the end of each calendar year.
The information shall include the following:
(a)
a declaration of attainment of all environmental objectives in each specific zone or agglomeration, including information on the exceedance of any applicable margin of tolerance;
(b)
where relevant, a declaration that the exceedance in the zone is attributable to natural sources;
(c)
where relevant, a declaration that the exceedance of a PM10 air quality objective in the zone or agglomeration is due to the re-suspension of particulate matter following the winter-sanding or -salting of roads;
(d)
information on the attainment of the PM2,5 exposure concentration obligation.
3. Where an exceedance has occurred, the information made available shall also include information on the area of exceedance and the number of people exposed.
4. The information made available shall be coherent with the zone delimitation made available pursuant to Article 6 for the same calendar year and the aggregated validated assessment data made available pursuant to Article 11.
Article 13
Air quality plans
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Parts H, I, J and K of Annex II to this Decision on air quality plans as required by Article 23 of Directive 2008/50/EC including:
(a)
the mandatory elements of the air quality plan as listed pursuant to Article 23 of Directive 2008/50/EC in Section A of Annex XV to Directive 2008/50/EC;
(b)
references to where the public can have access to regularly updated information on the implementation of the air quality plans.
2. The information shall be made available to the Commission without delay, and no later than 2 years after the end of the calendar year in which the first exceedance was observed.
Article 14
Measures to comply with the target values of Directive 2004/107/EC
1. In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5 of this Decision, Member States shall make available the information set out in Part K of Annex II to this Decision on measures taken to comply with the target values as required pursuant to Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/107/EC.
2. The information shall be made available to the Commission no later than 2 years after the end of the year in which the exceedance triggering the measure was observed.
CHAPTER IV
TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 15
Repeal
Decisions 2004/224/EC and 2004/461/EC are repealed with effect from 1 January 2014.
Article 16
Applicability
1. This Decision shall apply from 1 January 2014.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, Member States shall make available the information required pursuant to Articles 6 and 7 for the first time no later than 31 December 2013.
Article 17
Addressees
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 12 December 2011.