Citation, commencement and amendment

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Air Quality Standards (Amendment) Regulations 2016 and come into force on 31st December 2016.

(2)The Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010( 3 ) are amended as follows.

Regulation 2

2. —(1) In regulation 2 (definitions) for the definition of “ Directive 2008/50/EC 4 ) substitute—

“ “ Directive 2008/50/EC ” means Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe; ” .

(2) In that regulation for the definition of “ Directive 2004/107/EC 5 ) 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; ” .

Part 3 of Schedule 1

3. In Part 3 of Schedule 1 (sampling points etc. )—

(a) for sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 substitute—

“ (a) the flow around the inlet sampling probe must be unrestricted (free in an arc of at least 270° or, for sampling points at the building line, 180°) without any obstructions affecting the airflow in the vicinity of the inlet (that is to say 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) the inlet sampling point must be between 1.5 m (the breathing zone) and 4 m above the ground unless the station is representative of a large area and higher siting is appropriate. Any derogations must be fully documented; ” ;

(b) after the full-stop at the end of sub-paragraph (e) of paragraph 1 insert “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.”;

(c) after paragraph 2 insert—

“ 3. Any deviation from the criteria listed in this Part must be documented in accordance with Part 4. ” .

New Part 4 of Schedule 1

4. After Part 3 of Schedule 1 insert—

“ PART 4 Documentation and review of site selection

1. The Secretary of State must 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 must 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 must include details of these methods and information on how the criteria listed in Article 7(3) of Directive 2008/50/EC are met.

4. The documentation must 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. ” .