Directive (EU) 2024/2881 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (recast)
Directive (EU) 2024/2881 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 23 October 2024on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe(recast)THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 192(1) thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social CommitteeOJ C 146, 27.4.2023, p. 46.,Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the RegionsOJ C, C/2023/251, 26.10.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/251/oj.,Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedurePosition of the European Parliament of 24 April 2024 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 14 October 2024.,Whereas:(1)Directives 2004/107/ECDirective 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air (OJ L 23, 26.1.2005, p. 3). and 2008/50/ECDirective 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (OJ L 152, 11.6.2008, p. 1). of the European Parliament and of the Council have been substantially amended. Since further amendments are to be made, those Directives should be recast in the interest of clarity.(2)The Commission set out in its communication of 11 December 2019 entitled "The European Green Deal" an ambitious roadmap to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, that aims to protect, conserve and enhance the Union’s natural capital, and to protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. Specifically on clean air, the Commission committed itself to further improving air quality and to aligning Union air quality standards more closely with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Commission also announced in the European Green Deal a strengthening of provisions on air quality monitoring, modelling and planning.(3)In its communication of 12 May 2021 entitled "Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All – EU Action Plan: Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil", the Commission established a "Zero Pollution Action Plan" that, inter alia, addresses pollution aspects of the European Green Deal and further commits to reducing, by 2030, the health impact of air pollution by more than 55 % and the Union ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity by 25 %.(4)The Zero Pollution Action Plan also sets out a vision for 2050, where air pollution is reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems. To that end, a staged approach towards setting current and future Union air quality standards should be pursued, establishing air quality standards for 2030 and beyond, and developing a perspective for alignment with the most up-to-date WHO Air Quality Guidelines at the latest by 2050 based on a regular review mechanism to take into account the latest scientific evidence. Given the links between pollution reduction and decarbonisation, the long-term objective to achieve the zero pollution ambition should be pursued together with a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) No 2018/1999 ("European Climate Law") (OJ L 243, 9.7.2021, p. 1)..(5)In September 2021, the WHO updated its Air Quality Guidelines, based on a systematic review of the scientific evidence on health effects of air pollution. The updated WHO Air Quality Guidelines highlight new evidence about effects occurring at low levels of exposure to air pollution, and formulate lower air quality guideline levels for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5) and for nitrogen dioxide compared to previous guidelines. This Directive takes into account the latest scientific evidence, including the most up-to-date WHO Air Quality Guidelines.(6)Over the past three decades, Union and national legislation have delivered steady reductions in harmful air pollutant emissions and corresponding improvements in air quality. Policy options analysed under the impact assessment accompanying this Directive indicate additional net socioeconomic benefits from further reducing air pollution, with the projected monetised health and environmental benefits significantly outweighing the expected implementation costs.(7)When taking the relevant measures at Union and national level to achieve the zero-pollution objective for air pollution, Member States, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission should be guided by the precautionary principle, and by the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay, established in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and by the "do no harm" principle of the European Green Deal, also acknowledging the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as recognised in Resolution 76/300 adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 28 July 2022. They should, inter alia, take into account the following elements: the contribution of improved air quality to human health, the quality of the environment and ecosystem resilience, the well-being of citizens, equality and the protection of sensitive population and vulnerable groups, healthcare costs, the prosperity of society, employment and the competitiveness of the economy; the energy transition, strengthened energy security and the tackling of energy poverty; food security and affordability; the development of sustainable and smart mobility and transport solutions and related infrastructure; the impact of behavioural changes; the impact of fiscal policies; fairness and solidarity across and within Member States, in light of their economic capability, national circumstances, such as the specificities of islands, and the need for convergence over time; the need to make the transition just and socially fair through appropriate education and training programmes, including for healthcare professionals; the best available and most up-to-date scientific evidence, in particular findings reported by the WHO; the need to integrate air pollution related risks into investment and planning decisions; cost-effectiveness, the best available technological solutions and technological neutrality in achieving air pollutant emission reductions, and progression over time in environmental integrity and level of ambition.(8)This Directive contributes to the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDGs 3, 7, 10, 11 and 13.(9)The General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 set out in Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDecision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (OJ L 114, 12.4.2022, p. 22). (the "8th Environment Action Programme") establishes, inter alia, the objective to achieve a toxic-free environment, and to protecting the health and well-being of people, animals and ecosystems from environment-related risks and negative impacts, and, for that purpose, stipulates, inter alia, that further improvement of monitoring methods, better international cooperation, better information to the public and access to justice are needed. This guides the objectives set out in this Directive.(10)The Commission should regularly review the scientific evidence related to pollutants, their effects on human health and the environment, and, inter alia, the direct and indirect healthcare costs associated with air pollution, socioeconomic impacts, environmental costs, and behavioural, fiscal and technological developments. Based on its review, the Commission should assess whether applicable air quality standards are still appropriate to achieve the objectives of this Directive. The Commission should carry out the first review by 31 December 2030. When carrying out a review, the Commission should assess options and timelines for the alignment of air quality standards with the most recent WHO Air Quality Guidelines, whether air quality standards need to be updated in light of the latest scientific information, whether additional air pollutants should be covered and whether provisions on postponement of the attainment deadlines and transboundary air pollution should be amended. Following its review, the Commission should, where it deems it necessary, present a proposal to revise air quality standards or to cover other air pollutants. Where the Commission deems it necessary, it should also present proposals to introduce or revise any relevant source legislation in order to contribute to achieving the proposed revised air quality standards at Union level and propose further actions to be taken at Union level.(11)A common approach to the assessment of ambient air quality should be followed by applying common assessment criteria. When assessing ambient air quality, account should be taken of the size of populations and ecosystems exposed to air pollution. It is therefore appropriate to classify the territory of each Member State into zones reflecting the population density and average exposure territorial units.(12)Fixed measurements should be mandatory in zones where assessment thresholds are exceeded. Modelling applications and indicative measurements, in addition to information from fixed measurements, enable point data to be interpreted in terms of geographical distribution of concentrations. The use of such supplementary techniques of assessment should also allow for reduction of the required minimum number of sampling points for fixed measurements in zones where limit values or target values are met but the assessment threshold is exceeded. In zones where limit values or target values are exceeded, from 2 years following the adoption of implementing acts on modelling applications and on determining the spatial representativeness of sampling points, modelling applications or indicative measurements should be used in addition to mandatory fixed measurements to assess the ambient air quality. Additional monitoring of background concentrations and deposition of pollutants in ambient air should also be carried out to enable better understanding of pollution levels and dispersion.(13)Where applicable, modelling applications should be applied to enable point data to be interpreted in terms of geographical distribution of concentration of pollutants, which can help to detect breaches of air quality standards, and to inform air quality plans and air quality roadmaps and the placement of sampling points. In addition to the requirements for air quality monitoring laid down in this Directive, for monitoring purposes, Member States are encouraged to exploit information products and supplementary tools, such as by regular evaluation and quality assessment reports or policy online applications, provided by the Earth Observation component of the Union Space Programme, in particular the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.(14)It is important that pollutants of emerging concern, such as ultrafine particles, black carbon and elemental carbon, as well as ammonia and the oxidative potential of particulate matter, be measured at monitoring supersites at both rural background locations and urban background locations in order to support scientific understanding of their effects on human health and the environment, as recommended by the WHO. For Member States whose territory is less than 10000 km2 measuring at monitoring supersites at urban background locations would be sufficient.(15)Detailed measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2,5) should be made in order to understand better the impacts of that pollutant and to develop appropriate policies. Such measurements should be made in a manner consistent with those of the cooperative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long range transmission of air pollutants in Europe (EMEP) set up under the 1979 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution approved by Council Decision 81/462/EECCouncil Decision 81/462/EEC of 11 June 1981 on the conclusion of the Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution (OJ L 171, 27.6.1981, p. 11). and its Protocols, including the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone of 1999, which was revised in 2012.(16)In order to ensure that the information collected on air pollution is sufficiently representative and comparable across the Union, it is important that standardised measurement techniques and common criteria for the number and location of sampling points are used for the assessment of ambient air quality. Techniques other than measurements can be used to assess ambient air quality and it is therefore necessary to define criteria for the use and required accuracy of such techniques.(17)Providing reference measurement methods is acknowledged to be an important issue. The Commission has already mandated work on the preparation of EN standards for the measurement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and for the evaluation of the performance of sensor systems for the determination of concentrations of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5) in ambient air with a view to their early development and adoption. In the absence of EN standard methods, the use of international standard reference measurement methods, national standard reference measurement methods or European Committee for Standardization (CEN) technical specifications should be permitted.(18)In order to protect human health and the environment as a whole, it is particularly important to combat emissions of pollutants at source and to identify and implement the most effective emission reduction measures at local, national and Union level, in particular as regards emissions from agriculture, industries, transport, heating and cooling systems and energy generation. Therefore, emissions of harmful air pollutants should be avoided, prevented or reduced and appropriate air quality standards should be set on the basis of, inter alia, the most up-to-date scientific evidence, including WHO recommendations.(19)Scientific evidence shows that sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5), benzene, carbon monoxide, arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel, some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and ozone are responsible for a number of significant negative effects on human health, and are linked to several non-communicable diseases, adverse health conditions and increased mortality. Impact on human health and the environment occurs via concentrations in ambient air and via deposition.(20)Even though air pollution is a universal health problem, the risks are not evenly distributed amongst the population, with sensitive population and vulnerable groups at greater risk of harm than others. This Directive recognises the increased risks for, and specific needs of, sensitive population and vulnerable groups as regards air pollution and aims to inform and protect them.(21)According to the European Environment Agency Report No 22/2018 entitled "Unequal exposure and unequal impacts: social vulnerability to air pollution, noise and extreme temperatures in Europe", the health of people of lower socioeconomic status tends to be more affected by air pollution than the health of the general population, as a result of their both greater exposure and higher vulnerability. This Directive takes into account the social aspects of air pollution and the socioeconomic impacts of measures taken.(22)The effects of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on human health, including via the food chain, and the environment, also occur via deposition. The accumulation of those substances in soils and the protection of ground water should be taken into account.(23)The average exposure of the population to the pollutants with the highest documented impact on human health, fine particulate matter (PM2,5) and nitrogen dioxide, should be reduced based on the most up-to-date WHO recommendations. To that end, an average exposure reduction obligation should be introduced as a complementary air quality standard in addition to, but not as a substitute for, limit values.(24)The Fitness Check of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, covering Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC, has shown that limit values are more effective in bringing down pollutant concentrations than other types of air quality standards, such as target values. With the aim of minimising harmful effects on human health, paying particular attention to vulnerable groups and sensitive populations, and the environment, limit values should be set for the concentration of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5), benzene, carbon monoxide, arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air. Benzo(a)pyrene should be used as a marker for the carcinogenic risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air.(25)To allow Member States to prepare for the revised air quality standards set by this Directive and to ensure legal continuity, for an interim period limit values and target values should be identical to those set under the repealed Directives until the new limit values apply.(26)Ozone is a transboundary pollutant formed in the atmosphere from the emission of primary pollutants. Some of those atmospheric pollutants are addressed by Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 2003/35/EC and repealing Directive 2001/81/EC (OJ L 344, 17.12.2016, p. 1).. Ground-level ozone adversely affects not only human health but also vegetation and ecosystems. Progress towards the target values and long-term objectives for ozone set in this Directive should be determined by the targets and emission reduction commitments provided for in Directive (EU) 2016/2284 and by implementing cost-effective measures, air quality roadmaps and air quality plans where appropriate.(27)The ozone target values and long-term objectives of ensuring effective protection against harmful effects on human health and vegetation and ecosystems from exposure to ozone should be updated in light of the most up-to-date scientific evidence, including WHO recommendations.(28)An alert threshold and an information threshold for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5) and ozone should be set for the protection of the general population, and especially sensitive population and vulnerable groups, from brief exposures to elevated concentrations of pollutants. Those thresholds should trigger the dissemination of information to the public on the associated health risks of exposure and the implementation, where applicable, of short-term measures to reduce pollution levels where the alert threshold is exceeded.(29)In accordance with Article 193 TFEU, Member States are able to maintain or introduce more stringent protective measures provided that they are compatible with the Treaties and that they are notified to the Commission. Such a notification can be accompanied by an explanation of the process of how those air quality standards have been established and the scientific information used.(30)Where air quality status is already good, it should be maintained or improved. Where the air quality standards laid down in this Directive risk not being met, or have not been met, Member States should adopt appropriate measures in accordance with the relevant timelines established in this Directive in order to comply with the limit values, average exposure reduction obligations and critical levels and, where possible, to attain the target values and ozone long-term objectives.(31)Mercury is a very hazardous substance for human health and the environment. It is present throughout the environment and, in the form of methylmercury, has the capacity to accumulate in organisms, and in particular to concentrate in organisms higher up the food chain. Mercury released into the atmosphere is capable of being transported over long distances.(32)Regulation (EU) 2017/852 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2017/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 on mercury, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1102/2008 (OJ L 137, 24.5.2017, p. 1). aims to protect human health and the environment from the release of mercury, based on a life-cycle approach, and taking into account production, use, waste treatment and emissions. Provisions on monitoring mercury in this Directive complement and provide information for that Regulation.(33)The risks posed by air pollution to vegetation and natural ecosystems are most important in places away from urban areas. The assessment of such risks and the compliance with critical levels for the protection of vegetation should therefore focus on places away from built-up areas. That assessment should take into account and complement requirements pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/2284 to monitor the impacts of air pollution on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and to report such impacts.(34)Contributions from natural sources can be assessed but cannot be controlled. Therefore, where natural contributions to pollutants in ambient air can be determined with sufficient certainty, and where exceedances are due in whole or in part to these natural contributions, these should be able to, under the conditions laid down in this Directive, be subtracted when assessing compliance with air quality limit values and average exposure reduction obligations. Contributions to exceedances of particulate matter (PM10) limit values attributable to winter-sanding or winter-salting of roads should also be able to be subtracted when assessing compliance with air quality limit values provided that reasonable measures have been taken to lower concentrations. Subtractions of those contributions do not prevent Member States from taking action to reduce their health impact.(35)It is crucial to systematically monitor air quality in air pollution hotspots, including where the pollution level is strongly influenced by emissions from heavy-pollution sources that could expose individuals and population groups to elevated risks of adverse health effects. To that end, Member States should install sampling points in the air-pollution hotspots and take appropriate measures to minimise the impact of air pollution on human health in those hotspots.(36)For zones where conditions are particularly difficult, it should exceptionally be possible to postpone the deadline for compliance with the air quality limit values in cases where, notwithstanding the implementation of appropriate pollution abatement measures, acute compliance problems exist in specific zones. Any postponement for a given zone should be accompanied by a comprehensive air quality roadmap to be assessed by the Commission. In such a case, the air quality roadmap should set out appropriate measures to keep the exceedance period as short as possible. Member States should also demonstrate that the measures in their air quality roadmaps have been implemented to ensure compliance.(37)Air quality plans should be developed and updated for zones or average exposure territorial units within which concentrations of pollutants in ambient air exceed the relevant air quality limit values, target values or average exposure reduction obligations. Air quality plans should also be developed and updated for ozone target values exceedances, except if there is no significant potential to reduce ozone concentrations under the given circumstances and the measures to address the exceedances would entail disproportionate costs.(38)Air pollutants are emitted from many different sources and activities. To ensure coherence between different policies, air quality plans or air quality roadmaps should, where feasible, be consistent with plans and programmes prepared pursuant to Directives 2002/49/ECDirective 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise (OJ L 189, 18.7.2002, p. 12.) and 2010/75/EUDirective 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial and livestock rearing emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, p. 17). of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive (EU) 2016/2284.(39)As established by the case law of the Court of JusticeJudgment of the Court of Justice of 19 November 2014, ClientEarth v The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, C-404/13, ECLI:EU:C:2014:2382, paragraph 49, and judgment of the Court of Justice of 10 November 2020, European Commission v Italian Republic, C-644/18, ECLI:EU:C:2020:895, paragraph 154., the fact that an air quality plan has been drawn up does not, in itself, mean that a Member State has nevertheless fulfilled its obligations to ensure that levels of air pollutants do not exceed the air quality standards established by this Directive.(40)Air quality roadmaps should be prepared ahead of 2030 where there is a risk that Member States will not attain the limit values or, where appropriate, target values by that date, in order to ensure that levels of pollutants are reduced accordingly. The air quality roadmap should set out policies and measures in order to comply with those limit values and, where appropriate, target values by the attainment deadline. For the sake of legal clarity, and notwithstanding the specific terminology used, an air quality roadmap is a type of air quality plan as defined in this Directive.(41)Short-term action plans should be established indicating the measures to be taken in the short term where there is a risk of an exceedance of one or more alert thresholds in order to reduce that risk and to limit its duration. Member States should be able, in certain circumstances, to refrain from establishing such short-term action plans for ozone if there is no significant potential to reduce the risk, duration or severity of such an exceedance.(42)Air pollution has no boundaries and is shared across the Union. In most Member States, a significant share of pollution is generated outside their territory. Where appropriate, Member States should cooperate with one another if, following significant pollution originating in another Member State, the level of a pollutant exceeds, or is likely to exceed, any limit value, target value, average exposure reduction obligation or alert threshold. The transboundary nature of specific pollutants, such as ozone and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5), requires the Member States concerned to cooperate with each other in order to identify the sources of air pollution and the measures to be taken to address those sources and draw up coordinated activities, such as the coordination of air quality plans and short-term action plans, in which each Member State should address pollution sources in its territory, in order to remove such exceedances, as well as to inform the public. Where appropriate, Member States should pursue cooperation with third countries, with particular emphasis on the early involvement of candidate countries. The Commission should be informed in a timely manner of, and be invited to be present and assist in, any such cooperation, and it should be able to provide technical support to Member States upon request where appropriate.(43)It is necessary for the Member States and the Commission to collect, exchange and disseminate air quality information in order to understand better the impacts of air pollution and develop appropriate policies. Up-to-date information, where available, on concentrations of all regulated pollutants in ambient air, information regarding impacts on health, as well as air quality plans, air quality roadmaps and short-term action plans should also be readily available to the public in a coherent and easily understandable manner.(44)In order to ensure broad public access to air quality information, that information should be made public using digital and, where relevant, non-digital communication channels.(45)Information on the concentrations and the deposition of the regulated pollutants should be forwarded to the Commission as a basis for regular reports. In order to facilitate the handling and comparison of air quality information, data should be made available to the Commission in a standardised form.(46)It is necessary to adapt procedures for data provision, assessment and reporting of air quality to enable electronic means and the internet to be used as the main tools to make information available, and so that such procedures are compatible with Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) (OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1)..(47)It is appropriate to provide for the possibility of adapting the criteria and techniques used for the assessment of the ambient air quality to scientific and technical progress and adapting thereto the information to be provided.(48)As established by the case law of the Court of JusticeJudgment of the Court of Justice of 14 January 2021, LB and Others v College van burgemeester en wethouders van de gemeente Echt-Susteren, C–826/18, ECLI:EU:C:2021:7, paragraphs 58 and 59., Member States are not to restrict legal standing to challenge a decision of a public authority to those members of the public concerned who participated in the preceding administrative procedure to adopt that decision. In addition, any review procedure has to be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive, and provide for adequate redress mechanisms, including injunctive relief as appropriate. Furthermore, in line with the case-law of the Court of JusticeJudgment of the Court of Justice of 25 July 2008, Dieter Janecek v Freistaat Bayern, C-237/07, ECLI:EU:C:2008:447, paragraph 42; judgment of the Court of Justice of 19 November 2014, Client Earth v The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, C-404/13, ECLI:EU:C:2014:2382, paragraph 56; judgment of the Court of Justice of 26 June 2019, Lies Craeynest and Others v Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest and Brussels Instituut voor Milieubeheer, C-723/17, ECLI:EU:C:2019:533, paragraph 56; and judgment of the Court of Justice of 19 December 2019, Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV v Freistaat Bayern, C-752/18, ECLI:EU:C:2019:1114, paragraph 56. access to justice is, as a minimum, to be granted to the public concerned.(49)This Directive respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the "Charter"). Where damage to human health has occurred as a result of a violation of the national rules transposing Article 19(1) to (5) and Article 20(1) and (2) of this Directive, and that violation has been committed intentionally or negligently, Member States should ensure that the individuals affected by such violations have the right to claim and obtain compensation for that damage from the relevant competent authority. The rules on compensation, access to justice and penalties laid down in this Directive have the objective to avoid, prevent and reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment from air pollution, in line with Article 191(1) TFEU. Those rules seek to integrate into the policies of the Union a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment in accordance with the principle of sustainable development as laid down in Article 37 of the Charter, and put into concrete terms the obligation to protect the right to life and to the integrity of the person and the right to healthcare laid down in Articles 2, 3 and 35 of the Charter. This Directive also contributes to the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal, as laid down in Article 47 of the Charter, in relation to the protection of human health. The penalties provided for in this Directive should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.(50)In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards further technical details for modelling applications; for determining the spatial representativeness of sampling points; on the demonstration and subtraction of exceedances attributable to natural sources; for determination of contributions from the re-suspension of particulates following winter-sanding or winter-salting; on the requirements for projections performed for the purposes of postponement of attainment deadlines and on information to be included in implementation reports; and on requirements for transmitting information and reporting on air quality as regards (i) the establishment of rules relating to information on ambient air quality to be made available by Member States to the Commission as well as timescales in which that information is to be communicated and (ii) the streamlining of the way data are reported and the reciprocal exchange of information and data from networks and individual sampling points measuring ambient air pollution within Member States. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13)..(51)In order to ensure that this Directive continues meeting its objectives, in particular to avoid, prevent and reduce harmful effects from ambient air quality on human health and the environment, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending Annexes III to VII, IX and X to this Directive to take account of technical and scientific developments regarding assessment of ambient air quality, measures to be considered for inclusion in the short-term action plans and public information. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-MakingOJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.(52)The obligation to transpose this Directive into national law should be confined to those provisions which represent a substantive amendment as compared to the earlier Directives. The obligation to transpose the provisions which are unchanged arises under the earlier Directives.(53)This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for the transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Part B of Annex XI to this Directive.(54)Since the objective of this Directive, namely to set out air quality provisions with the aim to achieve a zero-pollution objective, so that air quality within the Union is progressively improved to levels no longer considered harmful to human health, natural ecosystems or biodiversity, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States by reason of the transboundary nature of air pollutants, but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective,HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: