The Commission considers that this text represents an acceptable compromise, the level of
ambition that it embodies remaining close to that of the original proposal. The text is the result
of intensive negotiations, during which new technical information was brought forward, most
notably on the comparability of different methods of measuring PM10. The resulting limit values
are in some cases a weakening of the Commission's original proposal. Other aspects of the
proposal have been strengthened, in particular by the addition of an alert threshold for NO2 and
clarification of the new framework for providing regular information on air quality to the public.
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