IES - Institute for Environment and Sustainability

European Commission » Joint Research Centre » IES »: AQUILA Project » Home

AQUILA Homepage

With the latest developments of the European Air Quality Directives the importance of the National Air Quality Reference Laboratories has grown significantly. Their activity had been acknowledged since a long time and their role has now been formally established: they are legally responsible for the quality assurance of air pollutant measurements in their Member State, which implies the organisation of national QA/QC programmes and the participation to European QA/QC programmes. In addition they may be actively involved in standardisation activities, in the validation of measurement methods and the type approval of instruments.

A constitutive meeting of the Laboratories took place in December 2001 in Ispra and showed a strong agreement on the setting up of a formal network, with the objectives to provide expert judgement, to promote the harmonisation of air quality measurements among EU, EFTA and CCs, to co-ordinate QA/QC activities, method development and validation, to participate in standardisation activities, to develop common research projects and pilot studies and to offer a forum for information exchange in form of training courses, workshops and conferences. The creation of the network was formally agreed by the participating laboratories a year later. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the JRC and most of the participating institutes.

Meetings are partially dedicated to special topics like particles measurement or quality assurance, but do give as well the regular opportunity to update the participants on new technical/scientific and legislative developments in the air quality field.

As the Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre's mission is to provide EU policies with independent, evidence-based scientific and technical support throughout the whole policy cycle. Working in close cooperation with policy Directorates-General, the JRC addresses key societal challenges while stimulating innovation through developing new methods, tools and standards, and sharing its know-how with the Member States, the scientific community and international partners. Key policy areas include: environment and climate change; energy and transport; agriculture and food security; health and consumer protection; information society and digital agenda; safety and security, including nuclear; all supported through a cross-cutting and multidisciplinary approach.

Last update: 27 Oct 2008

Sitemap | Contact | Legal notice