Historical overview and main features
Introduction
European Union (further in the text – EU) became concerned with air pollution at the end of 1970s, motivated by a number of reasons. In the first place, acid precipitations - rain, snow, fog and etc. - were discovered to cause considerable damage to European forest, soil, lakes, and aquatic life, but also to buildings and human health. The acidity of the precipitations was caused in particular by sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which both stemmed mainly from industrial installations, traffic and heating. The problem was so serious that in the East-West summit at Helsinki (1974), the Soviet Union suggested an international agreement to fight long-range transboundary air pollution. This initiative led to the Geneva Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution in 1979 which was several times updated and continues to constitute an important instrument for combating air pollution in Europe.