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2009-07-15 00:00:00
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The environment ministers of the Visegrad quartet of central and eastern European countries have pledged to meet EU air quality standards on particulate matter (PM10) if given extra time to comply.
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have requested EU clearance to postpone implementation of the PM10 limits until mid-2011. The group's environment ministers meeting in Poland last week said they would consider further measures to reduce pollution if they still could not comply by the extended deadline.
The commission will rule on derogation requests from Poland, the Czech Republic, Malta, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Latvia and the UK before the end of the year (EE 28/04/09). Earlier this month the EU executive approved an exemption request for several pollution zones in Hungary (EE 02/07/09).
Other issues discussed by the ministers included illegal waste shipments in the region, particularly take-back requirements set in EU law. They raised concerns over the slowness of the procedure and want the commission to clarify the law in this area. The ministers also discussed progress in the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment.
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