Evaluation
Article 13 of the Directive calls on the Commission to review the Directive no later than 31 December 2025. The Commission will evaluate the Directive following the Better Regulation guidelines. The evaluation will assess to what extent the Directive has reached its objective of protecting human health and the environment by reducing national emissions of the five main air pollutants.
It will also take into account the clean air targets set in the 2021 Zero Pollution Action Plan. Furthermore, the evaluation will assess whether the Directive has proved coherent with and contributed to EU air quality policy and created synergies with other EU policies.
Stakeholder consultations
The public was consulted in early 2024 on Have Your Say on the call for evidence describing the scope of the evaluation exercise.
The Commission will also consult stakeholders through the following consultation tools and processes (timing may be subject to change):
- A public consultation is planned to be launched in the third quarter of 2024 on Have Your Say for 12 weeks in all official EU languages. Replies to the online public consultation can be provided in any official EU language.
- A stakeholder meeting is also planned for the third quarter of 2024. The meeting will take place in Brussels and provide the opportunity to discuss stakeholder feedback on the functioning of the Directive.
- A targeted stakeholder consultation (planned for the second half of 2024). It will contain more specific questions addressed to different groups of stakeholders, including Member States and the relevant authorities, civil society organisations, international stakeholders, industry representatives and the scientific community.
- Discussions at meetings of the Member State expert group on the implementation of the Directive.
Documents
Relevant information sources to inform the review include the following:
- Previous and forthcoming implementation reports prepared in line with Article 11 of the Directive.
- Yearly inventory data submitted by Member States and compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
- Data on ecosystem impacts reported by Member States and analysed by the Commission.
- National air pollution control programmes and emission projections reported by Member States and analysed by the Commission.
- Previous and forthcoming editions of the Clean Air Outlook and the support studies underpinning them.
- Service request by the Commission analysing reporting requirements of the Directive not linked to emission reduction commitments.
The Commission will also launch a dedicated study to support the evaluation and support the public and targeted stakeholder consultations.