The state of the European Union – Ukraine Association Agreement implementation on the air quality

Abstract

The comparative analysis of laws and regulations on air quality, air protection, and its monitoring in the EU and Ukraine has been carried out to analyse the state of the European Union – Ukraine Association Agreement. The main features of the strategic documents “Europe 2020” and “Ukraine 2020” air pollution control are discussed. The analysis of air quality monitoring regulations, air quality control methods, and peculiarities of citizens’ alerts in the EU and Ukrainian legislation is provided. It is proven that the methods approach to limiting pollutant values differs in Ukraine and the EU. EU uses limit value’, ‘target value’, alert threshold’, ‘information threshold’ and ‘critical level’ and Ukraine uses limiting values. The limit values/permissible concentrations of carbon dioxide, sulfur (IV) oxide (average daily value), and lead are stricter in Ukraine. However, the permissible concentrations of PM10, sulfur (IV) oxide (short-term value), Arsenic, Cadmium, and Nickel are much lighter in Ukraine than in the EU. The dioxin content in ambient air is not regulated in Ukrainian legislation. Also, citizens’ monitoring systems and data provision differ and should be harmonised for the EU’s standards. The current state of roadmap implementation is firstly presented. It is demonstrated the necessity to harmonise the Ukrainian law and regulations on air quality control and air protection with the EU law.