Commission rejects air quality extension requests

The European Commission rejected 92 out of 97 requests in December for extending Member States deadlines to meet EU air quality standards as set out by Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. Almost all the requests related to limits on concentrations of particulate matter (PM10) that should have been met in 2005. The Commission did, however, extend PM10 limits in five zones in Poland until 2011.

The Directive 2008/5/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe can be found here:

http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:152:0001:0044:EN:PDF