Air in Europe

Definition of Air Council

The authority, in the United Kingdom, which controls the Air Forces of the Crown. Created by the Air Force (Constitution) Act, 1917. [1] Air Council in the Dictionaries

Directive 2008/50/EC on the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe

Background

The Directive entered into force on 11 June 2008 and must be transposed into national legislation before 11 June 2010. It simplifies existing EU legislation by consolidating into a single directive the Framework Directive (Directive 1996/62/EC) and the first three daughter directives (Directives 1999/30/EC, 2000/69/EC and 2002/3/EC) along with the Council Decision on the exchange of information (Council Decision 97/101/EC). The provisions of the fourth daughter Directive (2004/107/EC) are expected to be incorporated into the Directive at a later date. The Directive will be subject to review by the European Commission in 2013.

The Directive also introduces new provisions reflecting the experiences of member states in implementing existing air quality legislation and improved scientific understanding of the health effects of PM2.5:

• a new control framework for PM2.5;
• the requirement to discount natural sources of pollution, such as sea salt, when assessing compliance against limit values; and
• options for time extensions for meeting compliance deadlines for particulate matter (PM 10) (to 2011) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and benzene (to 2015), subject to strict conditions and assessment by the Commission.

Resources

Notes

1. Definition of Air Council is from A Concise Law Dictionary (1927).