UK standards for air quality monitoring instruments

Monitoring instruments that are used in UK air pollution monitoring networks must pass the tests and requirements in the MCERTS performance standards. 

The MCERTS performance standards make sure that the instruments used to monitor air pollution comply with the: 

Instrument standards for the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) 

The following table shows the instrument performance standards for common air pollutants. Instruments must meet these standards before they can be approved and certified for use in the AURN. 

The documents are produced by the European Committee for Standardisation and published by the British Standard Institute. 

Monitoring instruments that measure these pollutants in the AURN must get ‘type approval’ to show they have met the performance standard. Type approval is granted by CSA Group Ltd, the certification body appointed by the Environment Agency. 

Testing AURN monitoring instruments against these standards began in 2005. 

Instrument standards for measuring PM2.5 and PM10 

PM2.5 is particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter. PM10 is particulate matter less than 10 micrometres in diameter. 

The standard methods for measuring PM2.5 and PM10 are: 

BS EN 16450:2017 sets the minimum performance standard and test procedure for automated continuous measurement systems for PM2.5 and PM10. These systems provide data in near real-time. 

Before an automatic PM2.5 or PM10 instrument can be included in the AURN, it must have certification to show that it is equivalent to the standard gravimetric reference method (BS EN 12341:2023). 

Find more information about PM2.5 and PM10 equivalence in the: