Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

for 2004 was prepared within the StEMA project, according to the CORINAIR methodology. Thanks to foreignsupport, in 2011 an emissions inventory was compiled for the year 2008 and available air emissions data weresubmitted to EMEP, as well as to EEA. Funds for another inventory are also secured. However, no sufficient incountrycapacity was built to follow up on the inventories prepared so far and on regular reporting on emissionsaccording to the international requirements.Recommendation 5.3:The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Health should cooperate in planning and establishing aunified network to monitor ambient air quality and deposited matter that will comply with ambient air qualityEuropean Union standards and the standards set by the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring andEvaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP) under the Convention onLong-range Transboundary Air Pollution.Monitoring of air quality in Albania is performed according to the 2009 DCM on the Rules and Procedures forCompilation and Implementation of National Environmental Monitoring, No. 1189, by scientific institutionscontracted to and funded by MoEFWA. These institutions are EFA, IPH and CANP. The monitoring of airquality complies with international practices to a certain extent.Recommendation 5.4:The Ministry of Health should study further the occurrence of high radon concentrations in indoor air. Mapping areas with a high concentration of radon in soil, water and air would greatly help land use and construction planning.The recommendation has not been implemented in the way it has been proposed, i.e. no new surveys of indoorair radon have been carried out by the Institute of Geosciences. Instead, the following activities have beenimplemented:• Regulations for radiation protection, safety and security of ionizing radiation sources were prepared bythe RPC 14 and approved by the Council of Ministers;• The RPC issued two decisions relating to the Code of Practice for Users in Nuclear Medicine and todosimetry levels for medical exposure, which were approved by the Council of Ministers;• Regulation on the limit of radon concentration in buildings, radionuclides and construction wasprepared in 2011 and is awaiting approval.The regulation sets the radon level limit of 400 Bq/m3 as the level for considering remedial action in olddwellings and 200 Bq/m3 as the reference level for new dwellings. The values follow the EC recommendation90/143/Euratom on the protection of the public against indoor exposure to radon. There is no legislation onmitigation activities or the way they will be implemented, or specification of the levels above which financialsupport for mitigation can be provided. The recently released WHO guidelines on selected indoor air pollutantsinclude radon outline countermeasures and their effectiveness in health terms.Overall, legal measures have been updated and the standards harmonized with the European ones, but nomitigation actions have been attached to them.Recommendation 5.5:(a) The Ministry of Environment, together with the Ministry of Health, should adopt and implement new airquality standards and emission standards for stationary sources. Air quality standards should be in linewith World Health Organization’s guidelines on ambient air;(b) The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment,should develop, adopt and implement new emission standards for new mobile sources according to relevantEuropean Union standards. Adequate vehicle emission control schemes should be set up as soon aspossible. Relevant European Union control schemes could serve as examples;16114The Radiation Protection Commission was established by MoH as the national regulatory authority (under the Radiation ProtectionLaw, No. 8025, of 1995, amended in 2008), to oversee and ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Law and otherregulations in the field of radiation protection. Its Committee is chaired by the Minister of Health. The Radiation Protection Office isthe executive arm performing inspection of physical and legal entities working with ionizing radiation.