What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Article 23 – paragraph 2 – introductory part: 2. For the specific purpose of assessing compliance with the limit values, ozone target values, average exposure reduction obligations, average exposure concentration objectives, and critical levels , the information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made available to the Commission no later than 4 months after the end of each calendar year and shall include:

Article 23 – paragraph 2 – point a: (a) the changes made in that year to the list and delimitation of zones established under Article 6 or any NUTS 2 territorial unit ;

Article 23 – paragraph 2 – point b – introductory part: (b) the list of zones and NUTS 2 territorial units and the levels of pollutants assessed. For zones in which the levels of one or more pollutants are higher than the limit values or critical levels, as well as for NUTS 2 territorial units where the levels of one or more pollutants are higher than the target values, average exposure reduction obligations or average exposure concentration objectives:

Article 25 – paragraph 2: 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 22(2a), Article 24 and Article 29(3a) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from ... [date of entry into force of this Directive]. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

Article 25 – paragraph 3: 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 22(2a), Article 24 and Article 29(3a) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

Article 25 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2: A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 22(2a), Article 24 and Article 29(3a) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of 2 months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and to the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by 2 months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

Article 27 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part: Member States shall ensure that, in accordance with their national legal system, members of the public concerned have access to a review procedure before a court of law, or another independent and impartial body established by law, to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of all decisions, acts or omissions by Member States including, but not limited to, those concerning the classification of zones under Article 7, the network design, location and relocation of sampling points under Article 9, air quality plans and air quality roadmaps referred to in Article 19 and short term action plans referred to in Article 20, provided that any of the following conditions is met:

Article 27 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3: The interest of any natural person affected or likely to be affected by exceedances of air quality standards, or having an interest in the decision-making procedures related to the implementation of the obligations under this Directive, and of any non-governmental organisation, which are both members of the public concerned shall be deemed sufficient for the purposes of the first paragraph, point (a). Such natural persons and organisations shall also be deemed to have rights capable of being impaired for the purposes of the first paragraph, point (b).

Article 27 – paragraph 2: 2. To have standing to participate in the review procedure shall not be conditional on the role that the member of the public concerned played during a participatory phase of the decision-making procedures under this Directive.

Article 28 – paragraph 2: 2. Member States shall ensure that non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of human health or the environment are allowed to represent natural persons referred to in paragraph 1 and bring collective actions for compensation. The requirements set out in Article 10 and Article 12(1) of Directive (EU) 2020/1828 shall mutatis mutandis apply to such collective actions.

Article 28 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1: Where a claim for compensation is supported by evidence, including relevant scientific data, from which it may be presumed that the violation referred to in paragraph 1 has caused or contributed to the occurrence of the damage of that person, the causal link between the violation and the occurrence of the damage shall be presumed.

Article 28 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2 a (new): Member States shall ensure that where the claimant has provided reasonably available evidence to support a claim for compensation in accordance with paragraph 1, and has reasonably substantiated that additional evidence lies in the control of the respondent public authority or a third party, if requested by the claimant, the court or administrative authority is able to order that such evidence be disclosed by the respondent public authority or third party in accordance with national procedural law and subject to the applicable Union and national rules on confidentiality and proportionality.

Article 28 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2 b (new): The violation of this Directive by the respondent public authority shall be presumed where the respondent public authority has failed to comply with an obligation to disclose relevant requested evidence at its disposal pursuant to this paragraph.

Article 28 – paragraph 4 a (new): 4a. For the purpose of this Article, ‘relevant scientific data’ means statistical, epidemiological and other data demonstrating a statistically robust causal relationship between certain types of pollution and certain health conditions.

Article 28 – paragraph 6: 6. Member States shall ensure that the limitation periods for bringing actions for compensation as referred to in paragraph 1 are not less than 10 years. Such periods shall not begin to run before the violation has ceased and the person claiming the compensation knows, or can reasonably be expected to know, that he or she suffered damage from a violation as referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 29 – paragraph 3 – point a a (new): (aa) the real or estimated economic benefits derived from the violation;

Article 29 – paragraph 3 – point c: (c) the population, including sensitive population and vulnerable groups, or the environment affected by the violation, and the harm caused, taking into account the objective of achieving a high level of protection of human health and the environment;

Article 29 – paragraph 3 – point d: (d) the repetitive or singular character of the violation, including any previous receipt of an admonition penalty, or administrative or criminal sanction.

Article 29 – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. By ... [6 months after the date of entry into force of this Directive], the Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 25 to supplement this Directive by laying down common criteria for determining the amount of penalties referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article 29 – paragraph 3 b (new): 3b. Member States shall ensure that revenues from penalties referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are used, as a matter of priority, to finance measures related to the improvement of air quality. Member States shall make publicly available information on the use of these revenues. Without prejudice to Article 28, revenues raised from penalties shall not be used for the purpose of that Article.

Article 31 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 1, 2 and 3, Article 4, points (2), (13), (14), (16), (18), (19), (21), (22), points (24) to (30), points (36), (37), (38) and (39), Articles 5 to 12, Article 13(1), (2), (3), (6) and (7), Article 15, Article 16(1) and (2), Articles 17, 18, 20 and 21, Article 22(1), (2) and (4), Articles 23 to 29 and Annexes I to IX by [insert date : 18 months after entry into force] at the latest .

B Ozone target values

B Ozone target values

C Long-term objectives for ozone (O3)

Annex I – Section 4 – point A – title: A Alert thresholds

Annex I – Section 4 – point A – paragraph 1: The alert thresholds are triggered when the values in the following table are exceeded for 3 consecutive hours in the case of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, and over 3 consecutive days for PM10 and PM2.5, at locations representative of air quality over at least 100 km2 or an entire zone, whichever is the smaller.

Annex I – Section 4 – point B – title: B Information thresholds

Annex I – Section 4 – point B – paragraph -1 (new): The information thresholds are triggered when the values in the following table are exceeded for a 24-hour period in the case of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, PM10 and PM2.5, and for 3 consecutive hours in the case of ozone.

Annex I – Section 5 – point A – paragraph 1: The Average Exposure Indicator expressed in μg/m3 (AEI) shall be based upon measurements at all sampling points in urban background locations in territorial units at NUTS 2 level throughout the territory of a Member State. It shall be assessed as a 3-calendar-year running annual mean concentration averaged over all sampling points of the relevant pollutant in each NUTS 2 territorial unit. The AEI for a particular year shall be the mean concentration of that same year and the preceding 2 years.

Annex I – Section 5 – point A – paragraph 2: Where Member States identify exceedances attributable to natural sources, which the Member State or Member States could not have mitigated, contributions from natural sources shall be deducted before calculating the AEI.

Annex I – Section 5 – point B – paragraph 1 – indent 1: – for PM2.5, 25% lower than the AEI was 7 years before, unless it is already no higher than the average exposure concentration objective for PM2.5 defined in Section C.

Annex I – Section 5 – point B – paragraph 1 – indent 2: – for NO2, 25% lower than the AEI was 7 years before, unless it is already no higher than the average exposure concentration objective for NO2 defined in Section C.

Annex III – Section A – point 1 – paragraph 1: Table 1 - Minimum number of sampling points for fixed measurement to assess compliance with limit values for the protection of human health and information and alert thresholds in zones where fixed measurement is the sole source of information (for all pollutants except ozone)

Annex III – Section A – point 1 – paragraph 3: Table 3 - Minimum number of sampling points for fixed measurement to assess compliance with limit values for the protection of human health and information and alert thresholds in zones where a 50% reduction of such measurements applies (for all pollutants except ozone)

Annex III – Section A – point 1 – paragraph 5: For each zone, the minimum number of sampling points for fixed measurements set out in the tables in this point shall include at least 1 background location sampling point and 1 sampling point in air pollution hotspots according to Point B, of Annex IV. For nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, benzene, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, this shall include at least 1 sampling point focused on measuring contribution from transport emissions. However, in the cases where there is only 1 sampling point required, this shall be in the area with the highest concentrations to which the population is likely to be directly or indirectly exposed.

Annex III – Section A – point 1 – paragraph 6: For each zone, for nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, benzene and carbon monoxide, the total number of urban background location sampling points and the total number of sampling points in air pollution hotspots required shall not differ by more than a factor of 2. The number of PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide sampling points at urban background locations and air pollution hotspots shall meet the requirements set out in Point B.

Annex III – Section B: deleted / (deleted)

Annex III – Section D – title: D Minimum number of sampling points for fixed measurements of ultrafine particles, black carbon, mercury and ammonia where high concentrations are likely to occur

Annex III – Section D – paragraph 1: Ultrafine particle number concentrations and BC shall be monitored at selected locations in addition to other air pollutants at those same locations as sampling points for particulate matter or nitrogen dioxide referred to in Point A of this Annex, and be sited in accordance with Section 3 of Annex VII. Sampling points to monitor ammonia shall coincide, where appropriate, with sampling points for particulate matter referred to in Point A of this Annex, and be sited in accordance with Section 3 of Annex VII. Sampling points to monitor mercury shall be sited in accordance with Section 3 of Annex VII. For this purpose, at least one sampling point per 1 million inhabitants shall be established at a location where high UFP concentrations are likely to occur, at least one sampling point per 1 million inhabitants shall be established at a location where high BC concentrations are likely to occur, at least one sampling point per 1 million inhabitants shall be established at a location where high mercury concentrations are likely to occur, and at least one sampling point per 1 million inhabitants shall be established at a location where high NH3 concentrations are likely to occur. Member States that have fewer than 1 million inhabitants shall establish at least one fixed sampling point at a location where high UFP concentrations are likely to occur, one sampling point at a location where high BC concentrations are likely to occur, one sampling point at a location where high NH3 concen…

Annex III – Section D – paragraph 2: Monitoring supersites at urban background or rural background locations established in accordance with Article 10 shall not be included for the purpose of meeting the requirements on the minimum number of sampling points for UFP, BC and NH3 set here.

Annex IV – Section A – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c: (c) on the carriageway of roads; and on the central reservations of roads except where there is normally pedestrian access to the central reservation or where cycling lanes are present.

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point a – introductory part: (a) Sampling points directed at the protection of human health shall be sited in such a way as to provide reliable data on all of the following:

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point a – point i: (i) concentration levels in the areas within zones with the highest concentrations to which the population is likely to be directly or indirectly exposed for a period which is significant in relation to the averaging period of the limit value(s), including in the vicinity of all air pollution hotspots,

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point a – point ii: (ii) concentration levels in other areas within the zones which are representative of the exposure of the general population, both in urban and rural background locations, and

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point b a (new): (ba) locations intended to be representative of urban traffic shall be located in such a way as to provide data on the streets where the highest concentrations occur, taking into consideration traffic volume (at least 10 000 vehicles per day or representing the largest traffic density in the zone), local dispersion conditions and spatial land use (for example in street canyons);

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point c: (c) urban background locations shall be located so that their pollution level is influenced by the integrated contribution from all sources upwind of the sampling point, following the main wind direction. The pollution level shall not be dominated by a single source unless such a situation is typical for a larger urban area. Those sampling points shall, as a general rule, be representative for several square kilometres;

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point c a (new): (ca) air pollution hotspots shall be covered by a sufficient number of sampling points installed within the main wind direction of the source where there is a near residential area or an area where the population is likely to be directly or indirectly exposed for a period which is significant in relation to the averaging period of the limit or target value or values, including but not limited to schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities and office areas;

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point c b (new): (cb) where the objective is to measure concentration levels in areas referred to in points (a)(i) and (a)(ii), sampling points shall be sited close to locations frequented by sensitive population and vulnerable groups and at-risk communities, such as schools, playgrounds, hospitals and homes for the elderly;

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point d: (d) where the objective is to measure the contribution of heating, at least one sampling point shall be installed within the main wind direction of these sources; sampling points shall be sited in such a way that the air sampled is representative of air quality for an area of at least 250 m × 250 m;

Annex IV – Section B – point 2 – point e: (e) sampling points in rural background locations shall be located so that they are not influenced by urban areas and so that their pollution level is influenced by the integrated contribution from all relevant sources;