U.K. Could Still Face Tougher European Union Pollution Rules if It Quits the Bloc

摘要

If Britain departs from the European Union, the action could free up officials in Brussels to tighten air-pollution regulations everywhere in the region-including in the U.K.-because of a twist in the free-trade laws likely to remain in force. The U.K. has worked to limit EU curbs on vehicle exhaust fumes in the form of nitrogen dioxide, saying it is unable to meet 2010 rules until at least 2030. If British voters opt to quit the union in a referendum on June 23, one of the primary opponents to those restrictions would lose its seat in the debate where the rules are made. Even outside the union, the U.K. would remain beholden to a number of environmental laws including the Air Quality Directive if it opted to remain in the European Economic Area free-trade zone, according to ClientEarth, a group of lawyers that successfully sued the government over its failure to cut pollution. The comments undercut the idea that Britain would escape red tape made in Brussels if it departed the EU.