CONSULTATION BRIEF
Start date: 19 August 2020
Closing date: 16 September 2020
Title of the public consultation: Public Consultation: The Ambient Air Quality (Amendment) Regulations, 2020
Ministry: Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning
Entity: Environment & Resources Authority (ERA)
1. BACKGROUND
The Ambient Air Quality (Amendment) Regulations, 2020, seek to amend the Ambient Air Quality Regulations (S.L. 549.59, i.e. the principal regulations). The objectives of the amendments are primarily to streamline the principal regulations with other subsidiary legislation under the Environment Protection Act, Cap. 549.
2. IMPLICATIONS
The Ambient Air Quality Regulations transposed Directive 2008/50/EC on cleaner air for Europe into Maltese Law, and had introduced two provisions on the registration and chimney height requirements of combustion plants with a rated thermal input greater or equal to 1MW thermal, and smaller than 50MW thermal. The aforementioned combustion plants are now regulated under EU Directive 2015/2193 which was transposed into national legislation through the Limitation of Emissions of Certain Pollutants into the Air from Medium Combustion Plants Regulations (S.L. 549.122). Consequently, the provisions on combustion plants (found in regulations 2, 26(1), 27 and 28) from the principal regulations are to be removed in order to avoid overlap in legislation and to ensure consistency.
Other amendments include the substitution within regulation 35, of reference to the National Emission Ceilings for Certain Atmospheric Pollutants Regulations (S.L. 549.32) with reference instead to the Limitation of Emissions of Certain Atmospheric Pollutants Regulation (S.L. 549.124). The latter regulations have in fact repealed the former. The rest of the amendments included are cosmetic in nature and will not impact the implementation of the regulations.
3. COMMENTS
In line with article 55 of the Environment Protection Act, the public is invited to make submissions to ERA with their comments as to why and how the Ambient Air Quality (Amendment) Regulations could be modified.
The Ambient Air Quality (Amendment) Regulations are available here: EN and MT.
Comments will be received by email on [email protected], for a period of 4 weeks commencing on 19 August 2020, until 16 September 2020.
