The Air Quality Standards (Wales) Regulations 2007

Definitions

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“action plan” (“cynllun gweithredu”) means an action plan required by regulation 11;

“agglomeration” (“crynhoad”) has the meaning given in regulation 5(2);

“air quality standards” (“safonau ansawdd aer”) means limit values, target values and long-term objectives;

“alert threshold” (trothwy rhybuddio”) means an alert threshold set out in Schedule 3;

“ambient air” (“aer amgylchynol”) means outdoor air in the troposphere, excluding work places;

“assessment” (“asesu”) means any method used to measure, calculate, predict or estimate the concentration of a pollutant;

“attainment date” (dyddiad cyrhaeddiad”) means a date by which—

(a)

a limit value is required to be attained; or

(b)

a target value should be attained, insofar as this is possible;

“concentration” (“crynodiad”) means—

(a)

for pollutants other than Group B pollutants, the concentration of the relevant pollutant in ambient air; or

(b)

for Group B pollutants, the total content of the relevant pollutant in the PM₁₀ fraction in ambient air,

and, in both cases, a reference to a concentration is to a concentration assessed by the National Assembly in accordance with these Regulations;

“Group A pollutants” (“llygryddion Grŵp A”) means benzene, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, PM₁₀ and sulphur dioxide;

“Group B pollutants” (“llygryddion Grŵp B”) means arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, cadmium and nickel and their compounds;

“improvement plan” (“cynllun gwella”) means an improvement plan required by regulation 8;

“information threshold” (“trothwy gwybodaeth”) means the information threshold set out in Part 2 of Schedule 3;

“limit value” (“gwerth terfyn”) means a maximum permitted concentration of a Group A pollutant set out in Part 1 of Schedule 1;

“long-term objective” (“amcan hirdymor”) means a maximum concentration of ozone set out in Part 4 of Schedule 1;

“margin of tolerance” (“ffin goddefaint”) means an amount specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1 by which a limit value may be exceeded;

“oxides of nitrogen” (ocsidau nitrogen”) means the sum of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide added as parts per billion and expressed as nitrogen dioxide in microgrammes per cubic metre;

“ozone precursor substances” (rhagsylweddau osôn”) means substances which contribute to the formation of ground level ozone, as referred to by regulation 18(1);

“PM_2·5” means particulate matter which passes through a size-selective inlet with a 50% efficiency cut-off at 2.5μm aerodynamic diameter;

“PM₁₀” means particulate matter which passes through a size-selective inlet with a 50% efficiency cut-off at 10μm aerodynamic diameter, in relation to which, in the case of assessments of Group B pollutants, the inlet is defined in EN 12341;

“pollutant” (“llygrydd”) means—

(a)

any Group A pollutant;

(b)

any Group B pollutant;

(c)

ozone; or

(d)

any pollutant to which Part 3 of these Regulations applies;

“polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” (“hydrocarbonau aromatig polysyclig”) means—

(a)

those compounds listed at regulation 19(2); and

(b)

any other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons the National Assembly chooses to monitor under regulation 19(1)(b);

“rural background station” (“gorsaf cefndir gwledig”) is to be interpreted in accordance with Part 3 of Schedule 5;

“target value” (“gwerth targed”) means a maximum concentration of a Group B pollutant as set out in Part 3 of Schedule 1 or ozone as set out in Part 4 of that Schedule; and

“zone” (“parth”) means one of the parts of the territory into which the National Assembly has divided Wales under regulation 5(1) for the purposes of Part 2 of these Regulations; and references to a zone, unless the context indicates otherwise, include an agglomeration.

(2) Other words and expressions used in these Regulations have the same meaning as in the following Directives—

(a) Council Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality assessment and management(1);

(b) Council Directive 1999/30/EC relating to limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead in ambient air(2);

(c) Directive 2000/69/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air(3);

(d) Directive 2002/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to ozone in ambient air(4); and

(e) 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(5).

(1)

OJ No L 296, 21.11.96, p.55.

(2)

OJ No L 163, 29.06.99, p.41.

(3)

OJ No L 313, 13.12.00, p.12.

(4)

OJ No L 67, 09.03.02, p.14.

(5)

OJ No L 23, 26.01.05, p.3.