Activites

• 2000/12/13 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 2000/69
  • OJ L 313 13.12.2000, p. 0012
• 2000/11/16 Final act signed
• 2000/11/16 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2300
• 2000/10/23 Council Meeting
• 2000/07/06 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T5-0320/2000 summary

    The European Parliament in its second reading recommended by Hiltrud BREYER (Greens/EFA, Germany) on benzene and carbon monoxide in air pollution adopted the Council's common position. A slight amendment was made, asking for research to take air pollution in enclosed spaces into account, as well as that in outside air.�

• 2000/07/05 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/06/20 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A5-0166/2000
• 2000/04/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• 2000/04/11 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(2000)0223 summary

    The Commission's amended proposal contains four amendments formulated to bring the text of current proposal in line with the Directive 1999/30/EC. Another four amendments respond to the Parliament's first reading by extending Member States' obligations to forward information on assessments and concentrations to the public and the Commission. Two amendments give due consideration to the health risks related to benzene which is a genotoxic carcinogenic. The amendments not accepted include the following: -those amendments which refer to indoor air quality, since the scope of the proposal is restricted to ambient air which is defined as outdoor air only in the framework Directive 96/62/EC. -The amendment to the siting requirements are not in accordance with general technical advice and are not compatible with daughter Directive 1999/30/EC. -The Commission considers the possibility of derogations from the directive as necessary, but extensions may be limited to five years and the conditions for derogations should be made clear and explicitly tightened.�

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/environment/', 'title': 'Environment'}],
• #2254
• 2000/04/10 Council Meeting
  • 05860/1/2000 summary

    The Council's common position has adopted fully or partly all but one of the European Parliament amendments accepted by the Commission. The one not accepted is amendment 11. The most significant innovations introduced by the Council relate to the possibility of granting one time-limited extension to Member states. An addition to the recital explains the reason. Article 3 restricts the single time-limited extension to 5 years and has provided for a series of strict criteria to be met and full justification to be given. In particular, the Council has added an upper ceiling of 10ug/m cubed to the concentration limit value where such an extension may be granted. The Council has changed the original commission proposal in that it has deleted the requirements that the Commission propose an absolute limit to the length of any further extensions which may be agreed under Article 3. Any proposals for a review of the Directive, which could include further extensions to the timetable for meeting benzene limit values as set out in Annex I, accompanying possibly the Commission's report of 2004, are subject to the condition of maintaining a high level of protection of human health and environment.�

• #2235
• 1999/12/13 Council Meeting
• 1999/12/02 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0131/1999 summary

    The Parliament adopted its report drafted by Ms. Hiltrud BREYER (Green, D) on the Commission's proposal on limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air. The Parliament introduced a number of amendments of which the main ones are: - Member States may maintain or introduce more stringent protective measures in order to protect the health of sensitive populations such as children and hospital patients and may provide that limit values are observed by an earlier date than that provided for in this Directive; - a new recital that states that given benzene os a carcinogenic, genotoxic product for humans, there is no threshold value below which it poses no threat for human health; - a new recital recognising tthat air pollution in enclosed spaces may constitute a substantial source of contamination through benzene and volatile organic compounds; - a new recital urging that information on the measured levels of benzene and carbon monoxide concentrations should be forwarded to the Commissionas a basis for regular reports; - information on concentrations should also be made available using telex, internet, telephone or fax and a list of the notified organisations should be forwarded to the Commission; - information on ambient concentrations of carbon monoxide shall be updated at least on a daily basis or, where feasible, on an hourly basis; - the Commission's report to the EP and the Council on the experience acquired in the application of this Directive should pay particular attention to sensitive populations, as well as review to what extent the limit value for benzene should be recued; - the Commission should propose an action programme on air pollution in enclosed spaces as a complement to Community legislation on outside air; - Member States, before 31.12.2001, shall provide information on the location and number of sampling points and the reference measurement techniques and reference modelling techniques; - in Annex IV, the Parliament adds to the 5th indent, 3rd subindent by requiring that, for benzene, inlets should be no more than 5 metres from the kerbside; - in Annex V, the EP adds that at least half and not less than one of the sampling points should be traffic-orientated and at least one should be urban-background-orientated; - lastly, the Parliament, in Annex VI (1) introduces a new paragraph that states that, for benzene, Member States may apply random measurement instead of continuous measurement if they can demonstrate to the Commission that the accuracy, including the uncertainty due to random sampling, meets the data quality objective of 25% set for continuous measurement.�

• 1999/12/01 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1999/11/16 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0065/1999
• #2207
• 1999/10/12 Council Meeting
  • 2207
• 1999/03/12 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1998/12/01 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1998)0591 summary

    PURPOSE: to present a proposal for a Council directive relating to limit values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air. CONTENT: the proposal fixes limit values including attainment dates for benzene and carbon monoxide, gives requirements for assessment of concentrations, and provides for the dissemination of information about the pollutants to the public. In preparing the ground for this proposal, account was taken of the requirements for such daughter legislation set out in the Air Quality Framework Directive. Based on the framework directive's four objectives, the objectives of the current proposal are to: - establish limit values for concentrations of benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air intended to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment as a whole; - assess concentrations of benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air on the basis of common methods and criteria; - obtain adequate information on concentrations of benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air and ensure that it is made available to the public; - maintain ambient air quality where it is good and improve it in other cases with respect to benzene and carbon monoxide. For benzene, the limit value is set at 5μg/m· averaged over a calendar year with a margin of tolerance of 5μg/m· (100%) on the Directive's entry into force, reducing on 1/1/2003 and every year thereafter by equal annual percentages to reach 0% by 1/1/2010 (date of attainment). Exceptionally, extensions may be agreed for periods of up to five years for areas where it can be demonstrated that meeting the limit value for benzene by 2010 would cause severe socio-economic difficulties. For carbon monoxide, the limit value is set at 10mg/m· averaged over eight hours (on a rolling basis) with a margin of tolerance of 5mg/m· (50%) on the Directive's entry into force, reducing on 1/1/2003 and every year thereafter by equal annual percentages to reach 0% by 1/1/2005 (date of attainment). The Commission considers it inappropriate to establish alert thresholds for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air and so has made no provision for these in its proposal. With regard to the assessment of concentrations of these two air pollutants, thresholds are established to determine the methods of assessment (continuous measurement, indicative measurement, modelling, objective assessment) to be used in an agglomeration or other zone. Provision is also made for the siting of measurement points. If information from measurement stations is the sole source of data reported to the Commission from a zone or agglomeration, a minimum number of stations is specified. However, the framework directive enables other methods to be used, even in zones and agglomerations where continuous measurement is mandatory. Where a full analysis has been carried out the number of continuous stations required depends on the overall quality of the information available. Until the CEN has completed its new harmonised standards for air quality measurement, the present proposal carries forwardthe existing reference methods for benzene and carbon monoxide. Member States are required to supply regular and up-to-date information about benzene and carbon monoxide to the public and appropriate organisations. The Commission must produce a report to Council and the European Parliament no later than 31/12/2004 on implementation of the directive and progress in understanding of the pollutants with which it deals, with particular attention to research into their effects on human health.�

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/environment/', 'title': 'Environment'}],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1998)0591
• Debate in Council: 2207
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0065/1999
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0131/1999
• Council position published: 05860/1/2000
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(2000)0223
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0166/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0320/2000
• : Directive 2000/69
• : OJ L 313 13.12.2000, p. 0012

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)