Revision of the European Directive 2008/50/EC

The European Commission proposed a revision of the air quality directive in October 2022. The revised version tightens limit values, improves the legal framework, and reforms the rules around monitoring and modelling. It also integrates the separate directive 2004/107/EC, which describes some additional pollutants, to achieve simpler and more complete legislation.

In order to arrive at the European Commission's proposal, evaluations, consultations and surveys have been carried out for several years and extensive comparisons were made with the air quality guidelines published by the WHO in 2021. The commission's proposal was considered by the European Parliament and in September 2023 their official position around the revision of the legislation was voted. Finally, the European Council also assessed the text and proposed adjustments.

Directive 2024/2881 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe was officially published on 20 November 2024.