A new Spanish Law on air pollution has been published and is
likely to lead to increasingly strict controls on air emissions
for many sectors.
There has been a tendency in the last few years to view all
environmental ills in terms of their contribution to climate
change. However, the protection of air quality and the
earth's atmosphere have continued to be seen as
significant policy objectives in their own right because of
their direct impact on human health.
In Spain, Law 38/1972 on the Protection of the Atmosphere
provided the first significant step towards addressing air
pollution problems by enabling objectives to be set on air
quality and emissions restrictions, and reducing pollution (in
particular sulphur dioxide) from both fixed and mobile sources.
Integrated environmental authorisation
("Autorización Ambiental Integrada") under Law
16/20021 which implements the EU IPPC Directive has
