Explanatory note

These Regulations, which extend throughout Great Britain, implement Council Directives No. 80/779/EEC on air quality limit values and guide values for sulphur dioxide and suspended particulates, No. 82/884/EEC on a limit value for lead in air and No. 85/203/EEC on air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide. They require the Secretary of State to ensure that the amounts in the air of suspended particulates and sulphur dioxide (considered both separately and in association), lead, and nitrogen dioxide are measured and (except in specified areas for limited periods) reduced below specified limit values. They do not apply to exposure to lead in the air as a result of a person’s occupation, nor to nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere at work or within buildings.