Article 10 Monitoring supersites

1.   Each Member State shall establish at least one monitoring supersite per 10 million inhabitants at an urban background location. Member States that have fewer than 10 million inhabitants shall establish at least one monitoring supersite at an urban background location.

Member States whose territory is more than 10 000 km2, but not more than 100 000 km2, shall establish at least one monitoring supersite at a rural background location. Each Member State whose territory is more than 100 000 km2 shall establish at least one monitoring supersite per 100 000 km2 at a rural background location.

2.   The siting of monitoring supersites shall be determined for urban background locations and rural background locations in accordance with Point B of Annex IV.

3.   All sampling points that meet the requirements laid down in Points B and C of Annex IV and which are installed at monitoring supersites may be taken into account for the purpose of meeting the requirements on the minimum number of sampling points for the relevant pollutants as specified in Annex III.

4.   A Member State may establish, with one or more neighbouring Member States, one or more joint monitoring supersites to meet the requirements set out in paragraph 1. This does not affect the obligation of each Member State to establish at least one monitoring supersite at an urban background location and the obligation of each Member State whose territory is more than 10 000 km2 to establish at least one monitoring supersite at a rural background location.

5.   Measurements at monitoring supersites at urban background locations and rural background locations shall include the pollutants listed in Section 1, Tables 1 and 2, of Annex VII and may also include the pollutants listed in Table 3 of that Section.

6.   A Member State may choose not to measure black carbon, ultrafine particles or ammonia in half of its monitoring supersites at rural background locations if the number of its monitoring supersites at rural background locations exceeds the number of its monitoring supersites at urban background locations by at least a ratio of 2:1, as long as the selection of its monitoring supersites is representative for those pollutants.

7.   Where appropriate, monitoring shall be coordinated with the monitoring strategy and measurement programme of EMEP, the Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS), and the monitoring of air pollution impacts undertaken pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/2284.