Framework rules on air quality promised by end of year

Four Directives on air quality have been adopted at EC level to date. Three of these - dealing with smoke and sulphur dioxide, lead and nitrogen dioxide - contain mandatory air quality standards. The fourth, on ozone, only lays down monitoring requirements and requires Member States to inform the public when ozone concentrations are high.

At the time the ozone Directive was proposed it was generally believed that it would be the last of i