In line with the European air policy and recent developments, the importance of the European Network of National Air Quality Reference Laboratories (AQUILA) has grown significantly since its inception in 2001. Formally recognised by the Air Quality Directives, these reference laboratories are legally responsible for the quality assurance of air pollutant measurements in their respective Member States, which involves the organisation of national quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) programmes and the participation in European QA/QC programmes. In addition, they should be involved in standardisation activities, the validation of measurement methods and type approval of instruments. AQUILA main objectives to provide expert judgement to promote the harmonisation of air quality measurements among EU, EFTA and Candidate Countries to coordinate QA/QC activities, method development and validation to participate in standardisation activities to develop common research projects and pilot studies to offer a forum for information exchange through training courses, workshops and conferences Meetings are usually dedicated to special topics, such as particle measurement, accreditation or quality assurance, but also provide regular opportunities to update the participants on new technical, scientific and legislative developments in the field of air quality.
AQUILA - Associated MembersThe following organisations collaborate within the AQUILA activities:World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Air Quality Management and Air..
AQUILA - BackgroundAir Quality is one of the areas in which Europe has been most active in the past decades. The European Commission's aim has been to develop an overall...
AQUILA - Role and tasks of National Reference LaboratoriesAQUILA verifies and supports the correct implementation of air quality directives.
AQUILA Meetings1st Meeting: 03-04 December 2001, Ispra, Italy2nd Meeting: 06-07 June 2002, Ispra, Italy3rd Meeting: 16-17 January 2003, Ispra, Italy4th Meeting: 19...
AQUILA Steering CommitteeThe current AQUILA Steering Committee is composed as follows: Annette Borowiak, DG JRC (EC), Lucia Bernal-Saukkonen, DG ENV (EC), Damiano Centioli, ISPRA (IT), Jutta Geiger, LANUV (DE), Matthew Ross-Jones, Swedish EPA (SE)
