Skip to main content
EU Science Hub

AQUILA - Background

Air Quality is one of the areas in which Europe has been most active in the past decades. The European Commission has aimed to develop an overall strategy by setting long-term air quality objectives. The Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe and the 4th Daughter Directive 2004/107/EC deal with controlling the levels of the most harmful air pollutants and monitoring their concentrations in the air. The Commission Directive 2015/1480 amends several annexes to Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC concerning reference methods, data validation and location of sampling points for the assessment of ambient air quality.

The most important and relevant paragraphs dealing with the National Reference Laboratory’s responsibilities are Article 3 and Annex I, Section C of the Directive 2008/50/EC:

Article 3

Responsibilities: Member States shall designate at the appropriate levels the competent authorities and bodies responsible for the following:

(a) assessment of ambient air quality;

(b) approval of measurement systems (methods, equipment, networks and laboratories);

(c) ensuring the accuracy of measurements;

(d) analysis of assessment methods;

(e) coordination on their territory if Community-wide quality assurance programmes are being organised by the Commission;

(f) cooperation with the other Member States and the Commission.

Where relevant, the competent authorities and bodies shall comply with Section C of Annex I

 

Annex I

C. Quality assurance for ambient air quality assessment. Data validation 1. To ensure accuracy of measurements and compliance with the data quality objectives laid down in Section A, the appropriate competent authorities and bodies designated pursuant to Article 3 shall ensure the following: (i) that all measurements undertaken in relation to the assessment of ambient air quality pursuant to Articles 6 and 9 are traceable in accordance with the requirements set out in the harmonised standard for testing and calibration laboratories, (ii) that institutions operating networks and individual stations have an established quality assurance and quality control system which provides for regular maintenance to assure the continued accuracy of measuring devices. The quality system shall be reviewed as necessary and at least every five years by the relevant National Reference Laboratory (iii) that a quality assurance/quality control process is established for the process of data collection and reporting and that institutions appointed for this task actively participate, in the related Union-wide quality assurance programmes,(iv) that the National Reference Laboratories are appointed by the appropriate competent authority or body designated pursuant to Article 3 and are accredited for the reference methods referred to in Annex VI, at least for those pollutants for which concentrations are above the lower assessment threshold, according to the relevant harmonised standard for testing and calibration laboratories, the reference to which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union pursuant to Article 2(9) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance. These laboratories shall also be responsible for the coordination in Member State's territory of the Union-wide quality assurance programmes to be organised by the Commission's Joint Research Centre and shall also be responsible for coordinating, on the national level, the appropriate use of reference methods, and the demonstration of equivalence of non-reference methods. National Reference Laboratories organising intercomparison on the national level should also be accredited according to the relevant harmonised standard for proficiency testing. (v) that the National Reference Laboratories, take part at least every three years in the Union-wide quality assurance programmes organized by the Commission's Joint Research Centre. If this participation produces unsatisfactory results then the national laboratory should demonstrate at the next participation in the intercomparison satisfactory remediation measures, and provide a report to the Joint Research Centre on these. (vi) that the national reference laboratories support the work done by the European network of National Reference Laboratories set up by the Commission.

 

More information about the Air Quality Policy of the European Union can be found on the Air Quality webpage of DG Environment.