Environmental odor problem in Hungary, legislation, measurement possibilities

Abstract

Legislation and regulations concerning the state of ambient air in the European Union have been harmonized by the member states. Exceptions to this are environmental odours, the legal regulation of which has been transferred to national competence by the European Union. Each Member State regulates odor-related activities differently. Some Member States allow a certain percentage of annual hours to be emitted into the ambient air with an odor that disturbs the population. In Hungary, design guidelines have been set for which higher odor concentrations are not permitted in ambient air. Limit values are expressed in odor units to which odor concentrations determined by standard olfactometric measurements can be compared. In recent years, significant measurement experience has been gained in connection with certain odor-emitting technologies, which have been published in Hungarian-language publications.