1. Where, in a given zone, there is a risk that the levels of pollutants will exceed one or more of the alert thresholds specified in Section 4 of Annex I, Member States shall establish short-term action plans indicating the emergency measures to be taken in the short term in order to reduce the risk or duration of such an exceedance.
However, where there is a risk that the alert threshold for ozone will be exceeded, Member States may refrain from establishing such short-term action plans when there is no significant potential, taking into account national geographical, meteorological and economic conditions, to reduce the risk, duration or severity of such an exceedance.
Where, for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5), the potential to reduce the risk of such an exceedance is severely limited, taking into account local geographical and meteorological conditions and specificities of domestic heating systems, Member States may establish a short-term action plan that focuses only on specific actions aiming to protect both the general public and sensitive population and vulnerable groups, as well as easily understandable information on recommended behaviour to reduce exposure to the measured or forecasted exceedance.