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Air quality standards under the Air Quality Directive, and WHO air quality guidelines

Figure Created 04 Jul 2017 Published 30 Nov 2017 Last modified 18 Jun 2018

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Topics: Air pollution

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Rights:: EEA standard re-use policy: unless otherwise indicated, re-use of content on the EEA website for commercial or non-commercial purposes is permitted free of charge, provided that the source is acknowledged (https://www.eea.europa.eu/legal/copyright). Copyright holder: European Environment Agency (EEA).
Owners:: European Environment Agency (EEA)
Figure type:: Graph

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Note: 1. (*) Not considered in the indicator, where only the most stringent EU standards are used: the daily limit value for PM10 and the annual limit value for NO2. According to the WHO air quality guidelines, the annual average for PM takes precedence over the 24-hour average, since, at low levels, there is less concern about episodic excursions.
2. In line with the Air Quality Directive: ‘limit value’ shall mean a level fixed on the basis of scientific knowledge, with the aim of avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects on human health and/or the environment as a whole, to be attained within a given period and not to be exceeded once attained; ‘target value’ shall mean a level fixed with the aim of avoiding, preventing or reducing harmful effects on human health and/or the environment as a whole, to be attained where possible over a given period.

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