Supporting the fitness check of the EU ambient air quality directives (2008/50/EC, 2004/107/EC) : final report

The study to support the fitness check of the AAQ Directives focusses on assessing the implementation (including successes and challenges) of the AAQ Directives. This retrospective exercise, focussing on the period 2008 to 2018 has the aim of identifying what worked well or less well in the implementation of the AAQ Directives and covers all articles and provisions of the AAQ Directives, looking at the role they played in meeting the objectives of the directives. This evaluation process has also included the identification of any excessive administrative burdens, overlaps and/or synergies, gaps, inconsistencies and/or obsolete measures which may have appeared over time. Furthermore, the study to support the fitness check has addressed to what extent the air quality governance between EU, national, regional and local levels, respectively, is coherent. In addition to the support study for the fitness check, the air quality and the AAQ Directives have been the focus of reviews by other institutions. Most notably, the European Court of Auditors produced a report on air pollution that recommended the strengthening of AAQ Directives and the promotion of effective action by the European Commission and the Member States including better policy coordination and public information. Furthermore, the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing drafted a joint report on air quality which concluded that more action needs to be taken to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the measures taken at national, regional, and local level to address air quality.