2004/279/EC: Commission DecisionShow full title

ANNEX I U.K. GENERAL ASPECTS FOR CONSIDERATION BY MEMBER STATES WHEN DRAWING UP SHORT-TERM ACTION PLANS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 7 OF DIRECTIVE 2002/3/EC

Article 7 of Directive 2002/3/EC sets out the requirements for short-term action plans. Article 7(1) in particular requires Member States in accordance with Article 7(3) of Directive 96/62/EC to draw up action plans, at appropriate administrative levels, indicating specific measures to be taken in the short term, taking into account particular local circumstances, for the zones where there is a risk of exceedances of the alert threshold, if there is a significant potential for reducing that risk or for reducing the duration or severity of any exceedance of the alert threshold. However, according to Article 7(1) of Directive 2002/3/EC it is up to Member States to identify whether there is significant potential for reducing the risk, duration or severity of any exceedance, taking account the national geographical, meteorological and economic conditions.

With regard to the EU long-term policy, the key question is whether short-term action plans still offer a significant additional potential for reducing the risk of exceedances of the alert value (240 μg/m3) or for reducing their duration or severity.

In the following the guidance on appropriate short-term actions is given with regard to geographical differences, regional extension and duration of possible measures.

1. GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECT U.K.

Regarding the need for short-term actions to avoid exceedance of the 240 μg/m3 threshold, the 15 Member States can be split up into three groups:

1. In the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden and Denmark) and Ireland no exceedances of the alert threshold happened so far (according to data reported to European Environment Agency AIRBASE) and in view of the implementation of the abovementioned long-term policy, they are even more unlikely to happen in the future. U.K.

Therefore Nordic countries and Ireland would not need to prepare short-term actions plans as there seems to be no risk of any exceedance of the alert threshold.

2. Air mass transport in north-western and central European countries is most frequently dominated by advection and often gives rise to long range transboundary pollution transport. U.K.

There are clear indications that for most parts of the north-western and central European countries exceedances of the alert threshold are diminishing. Short-term measures already in the mid-90s showed only a restricted reduction potential and implementation of the EU long-term strategy will necessitate the generalised and permanent application of some former short-term measures.

Therefore countries in which there is no significant potential for reducing the risk of exceedances through short-term action plans would not need to prepare such plans.

3. Major cities and regions in southern Member States experience, on the other hand, more often recirculation of air masses due to topography and the influence of the sea. In some cases the same air masses are recirculating several times(1). Due to high natural VOC emissions, emission reductions of VOC are relatively ineffective (so-called "NOx-limited" regime). U.K.

No significant trend of ozone peak values can be seen in the ensemble of rather limited and only recent time series. Moreover in those areas there is a lack of knowledge with regard to the efficiency of short-term measures.

Therefore cities and/or regions in southern Europe characterised by particular orographic conditions can, in principle, locally profit from short-term measures for reducing the risk or severity of exceedances of the alert value, especially for exceptional situations of extreme O3-episodes such as experienced in 2003.

2. REGIONAL EXTENSION OF MEASURES U.K.

Local scale efforts to reduce temporary the emissions of ozone precursors will be locally more paying in recirculation regimes than it might be in mainly by advection dominated regions.

Some countries (e.g. France) have both regimes depending on the region. Those countries may develop separate short-term action plans for southern cities, which might not be efficient at all for agglomerations or regions located in the more northern advection dominated part of the country.

The solution to ozone air pollution problems requires a proper diagnosis of the processes in each region and for each time of year, as well as of the links between the regions. Remedial short-term actions can be effective in some airsheds during some times of the year and not in others. Similarly, short-term actions may require a regional-wide assessment and approach, where layering and transport account for a significant part of the observed ozone.

3. SHORT-TERM VERSUS LONG-TERM MEASURES U.K.

Only long-term permanent large scale and drastic reductions of the ozone precursor emissions will sustainably bring down ozone peak concentrations as well as ozone background levels in urban and rural areas all over the EU. These reductions will follow from the ozone Directive itself and from the closely related Directive 2001/81/EC on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants(2) (in its turn endorsed by Directive 2001/80/EC on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants(3)). Furthermore EU-wide regulations to reduce VOCs (Directive 94/63/EC on the control of volatile organic compound emissions resulting from the storage of petrol and its distribution from terminals to service stations(4); Directive 1999/13/EC on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations(5); Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control(6)) as well as pending strategies to regulate the VOC content in products will reduce ozone peak levels. These European-wide permanent emission reductions are expected to reduce the ozone peak values by 20 to 40 % depending on the scenario and the region.

To be efficient, short-term actions would have to result in emission reductions of the same order of magnitude. Moreover these actions would have to be taken well in advance, e.g. one or two days, of an exceedance event (either on the basis of forecasts or during the whole summer season), and should have the appropriate regional extension (see above).

It should be noted that dissemination of information on ozone concentrations and recommendations to the public and to appropriate health care bodies is obligatory. Combined with adequate ozone forecasting this dissemination of information may reduce the exposure duration or exposure intensity of the population to the high ozone values.

Temporary measures (triggered by exceedance of the hourly threshold of 240 μg/m3) which are locally limited reduce the ozone peak concentrations by at most 5 % (primarily because of the relatively small emission reduction effects). This is the case for almost all traffic related measures such as speed limits, driving ban for non-catalysed vehicles when limited to the (sub)regional scale.

The combination of several locally limited measures (including industry and households) may result in a higher ozone peak reduction potential, but it is clear that a regional strategy is substantially more efficient than individual local measures. The total ozone peak reduction potential however is not expected to be larger than 20 %.

In some regions, where the ozone formation is VOC-limited, the above temporary and locally limited measures may even result in higher ozone peak concentrations.

1

For example, Millán, M.M., Salvador, R., Mantilla, E., Kallos, G., 1997. Photo-oxidant dynamics in the Western Mediterranean in summer; Results of European research projects. J. Geophhy. Res., 102, D7, 8811-8823.

2

OJ L 309, 27.11.2001, p. 22.

3

OJ L 309, 27.11.2001, p. 1.

4

OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 24.

5

OJ L 85, 29.3.1999, p. 1.

6

OJ L 257, 24.9.1996, p. 26.