Bulgaria faces court for air quality failure

Bulgaria breached EU limits for particulate matter (PM₁₀) across all its urban areas between at least 2007 and 2013 and its plans to achieve compliance were “flawed”, according to the advocate general of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Juliane Kokott.

The plan submitted by Bulgaria to the European Commission to reduce PM₁₀ concentrations had “structural deficiencies” as it lacked a timetable for implementing air quality measures and did not describe the improvements they would bring, Kokott said in her opinion for the ECJ. It remains to be seen whether the court will follow the opinion of the advocate general when it rules on the case, which should take place in the first half of 2017.

Poland also faces a similar lawsuit, which was brought by the Commission in June 2016 for an alleged breach of PM₁₀ limits across 35 ambient air quality zones.

Source: Ends Europe Daily, 16 November 2016.
The opinion of advocate general Kokott: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=185257&pa...
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Air qualityBulgariaEuropean Union

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Bulgaria faces court for air quality failure

In this issue

Livestock on leftovers

Editorial: Another agricultural system is possible

New NEC Directive in force

Big emissions from small chimneys

CCS is still a failure

Global warming and its implications for coral reefs

EU needs to shut all coal plants by 2030

How to get people to eat less meat

Stronger air quality measures needed

Cost-effective to cut ship NOx emissions

Coal project in Croatia stopped

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