Law No. 104 “On air quality.”

The scope of this Law is to protect human health and the environment as a whole by regulating measures to maintain air quality to meet air quality objectives established by this Law and its improvement. This Law provides for measures at national level regarding: (a) definition and setting ambient air quality targets to avoid and prevent the occurrence of harmful events and reduce their effects on human health and the environment as a whole; (b) air quality assessment throughout the country on the basis of established common methods and criteria at European level; (c) obtaining information on ambient air quality to support the process of combating air pollution and the discomfort caused thereby, as well as to monitor long-term trends and improvement results from measures taken at national and European level; (d) guaranteeing public availability of information on ambient air quality; (e) maintaining the quality of the ambient air where it is appropriate and/or its improvement in other cases; (f) promoting increased cooperation with the other Member States of the European Union with a view to reducing air pollution; and (g) fulfillment of the obligations assumed by the agreements, international conventions and treaties to which Romania is a party. The implementation of the provisions of this Law shall be carried out by the National System for Integrated Air Quality Assessment and Management (SNEGICA), which provides the organizational, institutional and legal cooperation between public authorities and institutions, with competences in the field, for the purpose of unified air quality assessment and management, on the entire territory of Romania, as well as for informing the population and public authorities on European and international standards on ambient air quality. National Body of Meteorology and Climatology performs the following functions: (a) transmits, upon request, to the territorial public authorities for environmental protection, information on the climatology; (b) supplies short-term weather forecasts and forwards them to the authorities upon request and to the territorial public services for environmental protection, in order to implement short-term action plans and monitoring of the effects of the measures taken. This Law sets forth criteria for assessment of air pollution by emissions of hazardous substances to the ambient air and assessment of risks to the human health from air pollution.In order to ensure the representativeness of the air quality data, a protection zone shall be established for each fixed measurement point by means of specific studies for assessing the ambient air quality, at the microscale, taking into account at least the following aspects: (a) the type of fixed measurement point; (b) topography/orography of the land; (c) pollutant(s) considered; (d) micrometeorological conditions; (e) significant constructions in that area; and (f) the sources of emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. The methodology for developing air quality plans, short-term action plans and air quality maintenance plans shall be approved by Government decision. The emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere with an impact on human health and the environment are subject to taxation, and the related amounts are paid to the Environmental Fund, under the conditions of the law. The Central Public Authority for Environmental Protection shall transmit information on ambient air quality to the European Commission, within the deadlines and formats set by it. The competent authorities responsible for the assessment of air quality shall support with complete documentation, for all areas and agglomerations, the site selection procedures and record supporting information on the design of the network and the choice of site for all monitoring sites.