The Air Quality Standards (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Air Quality Standards (Scotland) Regulations 2010 (“the 2010 Regulations”), which implement 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 (OJ L 23, 26.1.2005, p.3) (“the 2004 Directive”) and Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (OJ L 152, 11.6.2008, p.1) (“the 2008 Directive”).

The 2004 Directive and the 2008 Directive have been amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480 amending several annexes to Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the rules concerning reference methods, data validation and location of sampling points for the assessment of ambient air quality (OJ L 226, 29.8.2015, p.4) (“the 2015 Directive”). The 2015 Directive amends Annexes IV and V of the 2004 Directive and Annexes I, III, VI and IX of the 2008 Directive.

These Regulations amend the 2010 Regulations to insert new definitions of the 2004 Directive and the 2008 Directive to take account of the amendments made by the 2015 Directive (regulation 3). They also amend schedule 1 of the 2010 Regulations to take account of amendments made to Annex III of the 2008 Directive by the 2015 Directive (regulation 4).

No business and regulatory impact has been prepared for these Regulations as no significant change is foreseen to the existing impacts upon business, charities or voluntary bodies.