The Air Quality Standards Regulations 2007

Made: 15th January 2007

Laid before Parliament: 18 January 2007

Coming into force: 15th February 2007

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PART 1 — General

Citation, commencement and application

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Definitions

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Designation of Secretary of State

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PART 2 — Group A and Group B pollutants and ozone

CHAPTER 1 — Air Quality Standards

Preliminary and application

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Zones and agglomerations

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Air quality standards

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CHAPTER 2 — Attainment of air quality standards

General attainment measures

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Improvement plans

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Other improvement measures

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CHAPTER 3 — Maintenance of air quality standards and action plans

Maintenance of air quality standards

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Action plans

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CHAPTER 4 — Assessment

Duty to assess air quality

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Assessment methods

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Fixed and combined measurement

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Sampling points

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Other assessment requirements

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PART 3 — Other pollutants and background monitoring

Measurement of PM2.5

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Measurement of ozone precursor substances

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Monitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

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Background monitoring

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PART 4 — Public information and participation

General requirements

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Information regarding zones

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Information on concentrations

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Information on breach of alert or information threshold

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Information on breach of air quality standards

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Ozone annual report

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Information on action and improvement plans

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Public participation in improvement plans

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PART 5 — Final and miscellaneous provisions

Transboundary pollution

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Power to give directions

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Collation of information etc

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Revocations

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SCHEDULE 1 — Air quality standards

PART 1 — Limit values for Group A pollutants

	Averaging period	Limit value	Attainment date
Limit value for the protection of human health	Calendar year	5 μg/m³	1st January 2010
	Averaging period	Limit value
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Limit value for the protection of human health	Maximum daily 8-hour mean	10 mg/m³
	Averaging period	Limit value
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Annual limit value for the protection of human health	Calendar year	0.5 μg/m³
	Averaging period	Limit value	Attainment date
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Hourly limit value for the protection of human health	1 hour	200 μg/m³ NO2, not to be exceeded more than 18 times a calendar year	1st January 2010
Annual limit value for the protection of human health	Calendar year	40 μg/m³ NO2	1st January 2010
Annual limit value for the protection of vegetation	Calendar year	30 μg/m³ NOx
	Averaging period	Limit value
---	---	---
24-hour limit value for the protection of human health	24 hours	50 μg/m³ PM₁₀, not to be exceeded more than 35 times a calendar year
Annual limit value for the protection of human health	Calendar year	40 μg/m³ PM₁₀
	Averaging period	Limit value
---	---	---
Hourly limit value for the protection of human health	1 hour	350 μg/m³, not to be exceeded more than 24 times a calendar year
Daily limit value for the protection of human health	24 hours	125 μg/m³, not to be exceeded more than 3 times a calendar year
Limit value for the protection of ecosystems	Calendar year and winter (1st October to 31st March)	20 μg/m³

PART 2 — Margins of tolerance for benzene and nitrogen dioxide

Start of period during which the margin applies	End of period during which the margin applies	Benzene	Nitrogen dioxide (hourly limit value for the protection of human health)	Nitrogen dioxide (annual limit value for the protection of human health)
Coming into force of these Regulations	31st December 2007	3 μg/m³	30 μg/m³	6 μg/m³
1st January 2008	31st December 2008	2 μg/m³	20 μg/m³	4 μg/m³
1st January 2009	31st December 2009	1 μg/m³	10 μg/m³	2 μg/m³

PART 3 — Target values for Group B pollutants

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PART 4 — Target values and long-term objectives for ozone

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SCHEDULE 2 — Information to be included in an Improvement Plan

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SCHEDULE 3 — Alert and information thresholds

PART 1 — Alert thresholds for nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide

Nitrogen dioxide	400 μg/m³ measured over three consecutive hours at locations representative of air quality over at least 100 km² or an entire zone or agglomeration, whichever is the smaller
Sulphur dioxide	500 μg/m³ measured over three consecutive hours at locations representative of air quality over at least 100 km² or an entire zone, whichever is the smaller

PART 2 — Alert and information thresholds for ozone

¹For the purposes of regulation 11 (action plans), exceedance of the 1 hour average in respect of the alert threshold is to be measured or predicted for three consecutive hours.	¹For the purposes of regulation 11 (action plans), exceedance of the 1 hour average in respect of the alert threshold is to be measured or predicted for three consecutive hours.	¹For the purposes of regulation 11 (action plans), exceedance of the 1 hour average in respect of the alert threshold is to be measured or predicted for three consecutive hours.
	Parameter	Threshold
Alert threshold	1 hour average¹	240 μg/m³
Information threshold	1 hour average	180 μg/m³

SCHEDULE 4 — Assessment thresholds

PART 1 — Assessment thresholds for Group A pollutants

	Annual average
Upper assessment threshold	70% of limit value (3.5 μg/m³)
Lower assessment threshold	40% of limit value (2 μg/m³)
	Eight-hour average
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Upper assessment threshold	70% of limit value (7 mg/m³)
Lower assessment threshold	50% of limit value (5 mg/m³)
	Annual average
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Upper assessment threshold	70% of limit value (0.35 μg/m³)
Lower assessment threshold	50% of limit value (0.25 μg/m³)
	Hourly limit value for the protection of human health (NO2)
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Upper assessment threshold	70% of limit value (140 μg/m³), not to be exceeded more than 18 times in any calendar year
Lower assessment threshold	50% of limit value (100 μg/m³), not to be exceeded more than 18 times in any calendar year
	24-hour average
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Upper assessment threshold	60% of limit value (30 μg/m³), not to be exceeded more than 7 times in any calendar year
Lower assessment threshold	40% of limit value (20 μg/m³), not to be exceeded more than 7 times in any calendar year
	Health protection
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Upper assessment threshold	60% of 24-hour limit value (75 μg/m³), not to be exceeded more than 3 times in any calendar year
Lower assessment threshold	40% of 24-hour limit value (50 μg/m³), not to be exceeded more than 3 times in any calendar year

PART 2 — Assessment thresholds for Group B pollutants

Upper assessment threshold	60% of target value (3.6 ng/m³)
Lower assessment threshold	40% of target value (2.4 ng/m³)
Upper assessment threshold	60% of target value (0.6 ng/m³)
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Lower assessment threshold	40% of target value (0.4 ng/m³)
Upper assessment threshold	60% of target value (3 ng/m³)
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Lower assessment threshold	40% of target value (2 ng/m³)
Upper assessment threshold	70% of target value (14 ng/m³)
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Lower assessment threshold	50% of target value (10 ng/m³)

PART 3 — Determination of representative concentrations

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SCHEDULE 5 — Minimum number of sampling points

PART 1 — Group A pollutants: human health based limit values and alert thresholds

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Point sources

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PART 2 — Group A pollutants: limit values for the protection of ecosystems or vegetation

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PART 3 — Group B pollutants

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Point sources

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PART 4 — Ozone

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PART 5 — Ozone: minimum number of sampling points for fixed measurements for zones attaining the long-term objectives

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SCHEDULE 6 — Location of sampling points

PART 1 — Macroscale siting for Group A pollutants

Sampling points for the protection of human health

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Protection of ecosystems and vegetation

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PART 2 — Macroscale siting for Group B pollutants

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PART 3 — Macroscale siting for ozone

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