Regulatory Framework

Most industrialized countries issued recommendations that lead the population to take proper action aimed at the reclamation of buildings in cases where significant Radon concentration has been found. Alert levels vary from country to country in the range 200-400 Bq/m3. By “recommended levels”, legislators mean reference values to be kept into account in the design process of the buildings; the actual Radon concentration is then to be assessed by taking measurement after the building is finished. In addition to the recommended levels, Germany and Switzerland have set limiting values of 1000 Bq/m3 to be evaluated after the building is finished.

It is worth pointing out that EU countries acknowledge european recommendations at different times, according to their needs or their awareness to the Radon issue. To date, Italy has not implemented the European Recommendation 143/90 into a law yet, but it is actually only a matter of time due to deadlines established by the EU itself and to the level of awareness of the public opinion and of the government to the Radon issue. In this respect, recently several boards, companies and organizations that monitor the concentration of Radon and then issue “residential” and indoor Radon concentration reports and certificates having legal validity have been established. This is encouraging. ARPA (Italy) is capable of supply such service, guaranteeing the accuracy of the measurement results worked out at their regional laboratories.