The Air Quality Standards (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

Made: 9th January 2017

Coming into operation: 9th February 2017

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, being a Department designated[^f00001] for the purposes of Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[^f00002] in relation to measures relating to the environment, makes these regulations in exercise of the power conferred upon it by that section.

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Air Quality Standards (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 and come into operation on 9th February 2017.

Amendment of the Air Quality Standards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

2

The Air Quality Standards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010[^f00003] are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 5.

Amendment of regulation 2 (definitions and interpretation)

3

In regulation 2(2), for the definition of—

• (a) “the Directive”, substitute ““the Directive” means Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, as amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480 amending several annexes to Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the rules concerning reference methods, data validation and location of sampling points for the assessment of ambient air quality[^f00004];”; and

• (b) “Directive 2004/107/EC”, substitute ““Directive 2004/107/EC” means Directive 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air, as amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480 amending several annexes to Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the rules concerning reference methods, data validation and location of sampling points for the assessment of ambient air quality[^f00005]”.

Amendment of Schedule 1 (sampling points, etc.)

4

In Part 3 of Schedule 1 (microscale siting of sampling points)—

• (a) In paragraph 9, for sub-paragraphs (a), and (b), substitute—

(a) the flow around the inlet sampling probe shall be unrestricted (in general free in an arc of at least 270° or 180° for sampling points at the building line) without any obstructions affecting the airflow in the vicinity of the inlet (normally some metres away from buildings, balconies, trees and other obstacles and at least 0.5 m from the nearest building in the case of sampling points representing air quality at the building line); (b) in general, the inlet sampling point shall be between 1.5 m (the breathing zone) and 4 m above the ground. Higher siting may also be appropriate if the station is representative of a large area and any derogations should be fully documented;

• (b) In paragraph 9, for sub-paragraph (e), substitute—

in relation to the location of traffic-orientated samplers, sampling points must be at least 25 m from the edge of major junctions and no more than 10 m from the kerbside. A “major junction” is a junction which interrupts the traffic flow and causes different emissions (due to vehicles stopping and starting) from the rest of the road.

; and

• (c) After paragraph 10, insert—

(11) Any deviation from the criteria listed in this Part shall be documented in accordance with Part 4.

Addition of Part 4 of Schedule 1

5

After Part 3 of Schedule 1, insert—

(1) The Department shall, for all zones and agglomerations, fully document the site-selection procedures and record information to support the network design and choice of location for all monitoring sites. (2) The documentation shall include compass-point photographs of the area surrounding monitoring sites and detailed maps. (3) Where supplementary methods are used within a zone or agglomeration, the documentation shall include details of these methods and information on how the criteria listed in Article 7(3) of the Directive are met. (4) The documentation shall be updated as necessary and reviewed at least every 5 years, to ensure that selection criteria, network design and monitoring site locations remain valid and optimal over time.

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs on 9th January 2017.

Dave Foster — A senior officer of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Explanatory note

(This Note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations update the Air Quality Standards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (S.R. 2010 No.188). Those Regulations transpose Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality etc. and Directive 2004/107/EC relating to arsenic etc. in ambient air. Both Directives were amended by Commission Directive 2015/1480.

Regulation 3 amends the definition of “Directive 2008/50/EC” so that each reference to the Directive in the Regulations is a reference to the Directive as amended by Commission Directive 2015/1480. A similar change is made to the definition of “Directive 2004/107/EC”.

Regulations 4 and 5 make amendments to Schedule 1 (which concerns sampling points). Regulation 4 makes amendments to Part 3 of Schedule 1. The changes follow amendments made by Commission Directive 2015/1480 to Section C of Annex III to Directive 2008/50/EC.

Regulation 4 also corrects a drafting error in the previous Regulations relating to the distance of traffic-oriented samplers from the roadside.

Regulation 5 inserts a new Part 4 in Schedule 1. The new Part 4 concerns documentation and review of site selection. This change follows the replacement by Commission Directive 2015/1480 of Section D of Annex III to Directive 2008/50/EC.

An impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: S.I. 2008/301

[^f00002]: 1972 c. 68

[^f00003]: S.R. 2010 No. 188

[^f00004]: O.J. No. L152, 11.6.08, p.1-44, as amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480 (O.J. No. L226, 29.8.15, p. 4-11)

[^f00005]: O.J. No. L23, 26.1.05, p.3-16, as amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480 (O.J. No. L226, 29.8.15, p. 4-11).