Gibraltar will comply with the European Air Quality objectives as detailed in the European Council Directives 1996/62/EC, 1999/30/EC, 2000/69/EC, 2002/3/EC and 2004/107/EC.

These Directives have been transposed into Gibraltar Law by the Public Health (Air Quality Limit Values) Rules 2002 as amended by the Public Health (Air Quality Limit Values) (Amendment) Rules 2003 and the Public Health (Air Quality) (Ozone) Rules 2004.

Latest up-to-date hourly measurements of air pollution are reported to the general public using an easy to understand 1-10 air pollution index system. The categories range from LOW to VERY HIGH air pollution with associated advice on health affects and what precautions may be taken to protect health.

Details of the air pollution index can be found here.

A diverse range of sources contribute to the particulate matter concentrations measured by Gibraltar’s air quality monitoring network. Efforts are ongoing to better identify, quantify and understand the impact of these sources on ambient air quality in Gibraltar.

European legislation recognises that Member States cannot control contributions to particulate matter from natural sources such as African dust and sea salt. The legislation makes provision to account for these contributions when assessing compliance where they can be quantified appropriately. A report has been undertaken by AEA on behalf of the Gibraltar Environmental Agency to apply a methodology to measured PM10 concentrations in Gibraltar in order to quantify the contribution to daily and annual ambient concentrations from natural African dust. This quantification has been undertaken for years 2006 to 2008 and is also intended in subsequent years. The reports are available below:

• 2006 African dust quantification report
• 2007 African dust quantification report
• 2008 African dust quantification report
• 2009 African dust quantification report