EPHA, EPHA Environment Network, and EFA - the European Federation of Allergies and Airway Diseases Patients’ Associations sent a letter in June 2006 to the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety ahead of the vote on the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Quality and Ambient Air Quality Legislation.
The three organisations called on MEPs to ensure the highest possible level of health protection for EU citizen’s by ensuring:
A Higher Level of Ambition - the benefits to health even in most costly Commission impact assessment outweigh the costs by a ratio of 4:1;
No weakening of existing standards and the environmental acquis;
A new legally binding limit value or minimum 20% reduction of PM2.5 exposure.
First reading of the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Quality and Ambient Air Quality Legislation
Unfortunately the first vote on the directive in the European Parliament on 26th September 2006 did not go as EPHA, EPHA Environment Network and EFA had hoped.
The Commission were also disatisfied with the response from MEPs and in a press release accused the Parliament of weakening important elements of their proposal on air pollution.
Despite previous calls for more ambitious levels of protection, MEPs seemed to be looking to water down the air quality strategy by voting for the following:
An extension of 6 years for member states to comply to limit values
A weakening of the PM10 daily limit of 50 mg/m3 with an increase in the number of days per year of exposure from 35 to 55.
To give member states more flexibility over their compliance to reduce PM2.5 pollution by 20% between 2008 and 2020.
Finally, to extend the deadline for the legally binding limits on Pm2.5 from 2010 to 2015.
The Parliament show some support for the legislation with proposals to reduce the limit value of PM10 from 40mg/m3 to 33mg/m3 and to aim for a maximum of 20mg/m3 of PM2.5 as opposed to 25ug/m3. However the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) suggested that proposals to reduce limit values were ’purely cosmetic’ and did not provide a solution to the real problem of air pollution.
Release of air quality guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO)
Just one week after the disappointing response to the proposal the WHO released their guidelines on air quality in a bid to encourage governments throughout the world to act on air pollution which is estimated to cause 2 million premature deaths worldwide.
The Air quality guidelines which were issued on 5th October 2006, underlined the significant threat of air pollution to health and called for a reduction in the levels of PM10 from 70ug/m3 to 20ug/m3 which it claimed could reduce deaths from air pollution by an estimated 15%.
EPHA, EFA and the EPHA Environment Network write to the EU Environment and Health Minister
The organisations sent a letter to the Environment Council on 11th October 2006 in a bid to influence their position ahead of the Council’s reading of the directive scheduled for 23rd October 2006.
In this letter the three organisations challenged the Environment and Health Minister to go further than the amendments put forward by Parliament on 26th September 2006, whilst urging the Environment Council to ensure that:
There is no roll-back of existing standards
Leaglly binding standards are introduced for PM2.5 in line with WHO guidlines
No derogations are made for natural sources that would reduce health protection
No introduction of unworkable derogations where limit values would be inapplicable.
The Council and the Commission reach political agreement on 23rd October
A press release from the environment council on 23rd October 2006 revealed that they have adopted the draft directive as their postion and will be sending it to the European Parliament ahead of the second reading.
The main elements of the draft directive agreed by the Council are:
The introduction of a legally binding value limit of 25mg/m3 on PM2.5, to be implemented by 2015
A reduction in the level of exposure to PM2.5 between 2010 and 2020 by 20% in the most polluted areas and less in areas of better air quality.
The draft directive also allows for a degree of flexibility for states which have taken reasonable measures to comply with Community legislation but which are not able to reduce their levels of air pollution.
It is interesting to note that the elements of the directive on which the Council and Commission have agreed are very similar to the amendments put forward by Parliament in September which the Commission were at first very much against i.e;
more flexibility for member states to comply
and an extension to 2015 for member states to comply to the legally binding level of PM2.5.
