The Air Quality Standards (Wales) Regulations 2007

PART 1 General

Title, commencement and application

1.—(1) The title of these Regulations is the Air Quality Standards (Wales) Regulations 2007.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 15 March 2007.

(3) These Regulations apply in relation to Wales.

Definitions

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“action plan” (“cynllun gweithredu”) means an action plan required by regulation 11;

“agglomeration” (“crynhoad”) has the meaning given in regulation 5(2);

“air quality standards” (“safonau ansawdd aer”) means limit values, target values and long-term objectives;

“alert threshold” (trothwy rhybuddio”) means an alert threshold set out in Schedule 3;

“ambient air” (“aer amgylchynol”) means outdoor air in the troposphere, excluding work places;

“assessment” (“asesu”) means any method used to measure, calculate, predict or estimate the concentration of a pollutant;

“attainment date” (dyddiad cyrhaeddiad”) means a date by which—

(a)

a limit value is required to be attained; or

(b)

a target value should be attained, insofar as this is possible;

“concentration” (“crynodiad”) means—

(a)

for pollutants other than Group B pollutants, the concentration of the relevant pollutant in ambient air; or

(b)

for Group B pollutants, the total content of the relevant pollutant in the PM₁₀ fraction in ambient air,

and, in both cases, a reference to a concentration is to a concentration assessed by the National Assembly in accordance with these Regulations;

“Group A pollutants” (“llygryddion Grŵp A”) means benzene, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, PM₁₀ and sulphur dioxide;

“Group B pollutants” (“llygryddion Grŵp B”) means arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, cadmium and nickel and their compounds;

“improvement plan” (“cynllun gwella”) means an improvement plan required by regulation 8;

“information threshold” (“trothwy gwybodaeth”) means the information threshold set out in Part 2 of Schedule 3;

“limit value” (“gwerth terfyn”) means a maximum permitted concentration of a Group A pollutant set out in Part 1 of Schedule 1;

“long-term objective” (“amcan hirdymor”) means a maximum concentration of ozone set out in Part 4 of Schedule 1;

“margin of tolerance” (“ffin goddefaint”) means an amount specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1 by which a limit value may be exceeded;

“oxides of nitrogen” (ocsidau nitrogen”) means the sum of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide added as parts per billion and expressed as nitrogen dioxide in microgrammes per cubic metre;

“ozone precursor substances” (rhagsylweddau osôn”) means substances which contribute to the formation of ground level ozone, as referred to by regulation 18(1);

“PM_2·5” means particulate matter which passes through a size-selective inlet with a 50% efficiency cut-off at 2.5μm aerodynamic diameter;

“PM₁₀” means particulate matter which passes through a size-selective inlet with a 50% efficiency cut-off at 10μm aerodynamic diameter, in relation to which, in the case of assessments of Group B pollutants, the inlet is defined in EN 12341;

“pollutant” (“llygrydd”) means—

(a)

any Group A pollutant;

(b)

any Group B pollutant;

(c)

ozone; or

(d)

any pollutant to which Part 3 of these Regulations applies;

“polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” (“hydrocarbonau aromatig polysyclig”) means—

(a)

those compounds listed at regulation 19(2); and

(b)

any other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons the National Assembly chooses to monitor under regulation 19(1)(b);

“rural background station” (“gorsaf cefndir gwledig”) is to be interpreted in accordance with Part 3 of Schedule 5;

“target value” (“gwerth targed”) means a maximum concentration of a Group B pollutant as set out in Part 3 of Schedule 1 or ozone as set out in Part 4 of that Schedule; and

“zone” (“parth”) means one of the parts of the territory into which the National Assembly has divided Wales under regulation 5(1) for the purposes of Part 2 of these Regulations; and references to a zone, unless the context indicates otherwise, include an agglomeration.

(2) Other words and expressions used in these Regulations have the same meaning as in the following Directives—

(a) Council Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality assessment and management(1);

(b) Council Directive 1999/30/EC relating to limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead in ambient air(2);

(c) Directive 2000/69/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air(3);

(d) Directive 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to ozone in ambient air(4); and

(e) Directive 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air(5).

Designation of National Assembly for Wales

3.  The National Assembly is designated as the competent authority for the purposes of Article 3 (implementation and responsibilities) of Council Directive 96/62/EC.

(1)

OJ No L 296, 21.11.96, p.55.

(2)

OJ No L 163, 29.06.99, p.41.

(3)

OJ No L 313, 13.12.00, p.12.

(4)

OJ No L 67, 09.03.02, p.14.

(5)

OJ No L 23, 26.01.05, p.3.