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Italy has “persistently and systematically” violated EU rules against small particle air pollution, the European Union Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday in a ruling supporting Brussels’ legal action against Rome.
“Daily and annual limit values for PM10 particulate matter were exceeded very regularly” in areas highlighted by the European Commission in an infringement proceeding started two years ago, the court said in a statement.
Furthermore, “the Italian Republic has manifestly failed to adopt in time the measures” required by the EU Air Quality Directive, which aims to reduce harmful air pollution in Europe.
PM10 refers to the size of the particulate matter in the air, and the number indicates how many microns, or tiny units of measurement with one micron being equal to thousandths of a millimeter in diameter.
The World Health Organization says that air pollution of particles smaller than 10 microns can lodge in the lungs, and those smaller than 2.5 microns cause higher mortality due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and cancers.
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© 2020 AFP
Citation: Italy’s pollution ‘persistently’ infringes EU law: court (10 November 2020) accessed on 10 November 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2020-11-italy-pollution-persistently -eu-law.html
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