Alert thresholds and limit values in Article 13
Limit values (2/2)
Measuring of air pollution for PM2.5 shall take place according to Article 13, Article 16 and Annex III to Directive 2008/50/EC. Annex III contains a number of criteria, how measuring points (sampling points) have to be selected. These criteria give a large discretion to Member States, and the choice of the measuring point considerably influences the results of the measuring. For example, it is indicated that the sampling point shall be "between 1.5 m (the breathing zone) and 4 m above the ground" and "no more than 10 m from the kerbside". It is doubtful whether this requirement also takes into consideration the breathing zone of children and whether a distance of up to 10 m from the kerbside of a road really reflects the exposure to air pollution from traffic of pedestrians in urban agglomerations.
Article 22 of Directive 2008/50 provides that Member States were entitled to request, under certain conditions, a postponement of an application of limit values. The postponement could continue until January 2015. However, in the meantime, all postponement applications and decisions which were granted have expired, so that limit values set in Article 13 and Article 16(2) of Directive 2008/50/EC apply in full.