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)

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(4) Directive 2008/50/EC provides that Decision 97/101/EC is to be repealed with effect from the end of the second calendar year following the entry into force of the implementing measures on transmission of information and reporting.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:

(1)

OJ L 23, 26.1.2005, p. 3.

(2)

OJ L 152, 11.6.2008, p. 1.

(3)

OJ L 35, 5.2.1997, p. 14.

(4)

OJ L 68, 6.3.2004, p. 27.

(5)

OJ L 156, 30.4.2004, p. 78.

(6)

OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1.