EC starts legal action on air pollution against Cyprus

The European Commission started infringement proceedings against 10 member states, among them Cyprus, for failing to comply with the EU's air quality standard for dangerous airborne particles, known as PM10.
The 10 states are: Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and UK.
According to an official statement, the Commission's action follows the entry into force last June of the new EU air quality directive, which allows member states to request, under certain conditions and for specific parts of the country, limited extra time to meet the PM10 standard in force since 2005.
European Commissioner for Environment, Stavros Dimas said that air pollution has serious impacts on health and compliance with the standards must be our utmost priority. ''It is also essential that where time extensions are not applicable the standards are fully respected. The flexibility given to member states will therefore be complemented by strict enforcement action by the Commission''.
The first warning letter was sent to the 10 countries following an information request sent to member states last June. These states have not notified requests for extra time to meet the standards in all air quality zones where the PM10 limit values are being exceeded, the statement added.
The new Air Quality directive which entered into force on 11 June 2008, allows member states to request limited time extensions to meet the PM10 standard under certain conditions. 11 states have so far notified requests for time extensions for all the zones. Several other states have informed the Commission that they are drafting air quality plans for non-compliant zones and intend to submit time extension requests in the coming months. Four members are not affected by the infringements or notifications.