EU proposes to legislate for the managementof air and water pollution

Recently, the European Commission adoptedthree proposals aimed at improving the EU's air and water quality and managingwastewater pollution, suggesting the development of stricter regulations tomanage air and water pollution and strive to achieve zero pollution by 2050.

The European Commission issued a communiquésaying that air and water pollution can harm health, the economy and theenvironment, and the implementation of stricter regulations can bring asignificant return on investment, and the EU should take concerted action tobetter address the pollution problem at its source. The proposal states that EUmember states should set medium-term targets to reduce air pollution by 2030and achieve zero pollution by 2050.

To combat air pollution, the EuropeanCommission proposes to revise the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive to set amid-term target for 2030 to ensure zero air pollution by 2050. Specificmeasures include regular assessment of air quality standards, lowering annuallimits for fine particulate matter, a major air pollutant, strengthening airquality monitoring and information disclosure, and protecting the rights ofvictims through effective penalties. The annual limit value of fine particulatematter will be reduced by more than half in 2030, from 25 micrograms per cubicmeter to 10 micrograms per cubic meter.

In terms of combating water pollution, theEuropean Commission has proposed strict regulations related to municipalwastewater treatment and surface water and groundwater pollution, includingenhanced recycling of resources in municipal wastewater, systematic monitoringof microorganisms in wastewater, requiring producers of pollutants such asrelevant pharmaceutical and chemical companies to pay for cleanup, andcontinuously updating the list of pollutants in surface water and groundwater.

These proposals will be considered by theEuropean Parliament and the European Council in accordance with the ordinarylegislative procedure. Once adopted, the proposals will come into forcegradually according to the time targets set.