Air Quality Directive (AQD)

Another legislative approach to reduce air pollution was chosen by Directive 2001/81/EC. This Directive is EU answer to comply with the requirements of a Gothenburg Protocol (1999) to the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and its different Protocols, to which EU adhered. Gothenburg Protocol fixed national emission ceilings for EU as a whole and for each of its Member States for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia. These pollutants contribute to respiratory problems in humans, to acidification and/or eutrophication of the soil and waters, and to damage to vegetation.

Ceilings were indicated in kilotons of pollutant emissions and, by 2010, the ceilings fixed in the Protocol were not to be exceeded any more. Directive 2001/81/EC took over this scheme, asking for equal or slightly greater emission reductions by 2010. It left the means to achieve the emission reductions completely to Member States and only provided for annual reporting to European Commission.

By 2010, the majority of EU Member States - in the meantime 28 Member States - had respected the ceilings of Directive 2001/81/EC.       No sanctions were taken against those Member States that did not respect their commitments. In late 2013, European Commission proposed a new Directive, amending Directive 2003/35/EC, which intended to reduce emissions for the four pollutants and also for PM_2.5 and methane by a certain percentage, compared to 2005 (also see the Clean Air Policy Package). The proposal is at present under discussion.