Modern European citizens spend in excess of 90 % of their time in indoor environments. Up to now national and European air quality policies have devoted most of their efforts towards the limitation of outdoor environmental concentrations for some specific pollutants resulting from industrial activities and automobile traffic. Indoor exposures to air pollution must certainly be given a better attention in policy making in such a way
1) to better understand and assess the contribution of indoor spaces to environmental diseases
2) to set up coherent policies as regards the reduction of exposures.

It is therefore the objective of this project to increase the understanding of health impacts of indoor air quality. It will especially focus on the assessment of policy relevance of research into the health effects of isolated agents and mixtures, and will consider the implications for thresholds and safety margins for the general population and for people at work. It will address in particular how indoor air quality contributes to the observed rise in asthma and respiratory allergy as well as in other acute and chronic health impacts.

To respond to the objectives, EnVIE has identified three major and complementary issues as key questions regarding indoor air and estimated manageable in terms of scientific and technical proximity: Exposure, Health effects and Spaces characterisation and sources. Since the aim of EnVIE is to aggregate building blocks, interfacing sciences and policy making, EnVIE will specifically consider the issue of integration and policy interface. It will also give a large attention to the dissemination in particular through the organisation of the EnVIE annual conferences and reports. EnVIE is designed for a three-year duration. It is based on a core group of participants from the European collaborative action “urban air, indoor environment and human exposure” together with JRC and WHO. The consortium has 19 participants from 15 different countries, including eastern countries, all participants being selected from their scientific excellence and for their ability to disseminate and interface the outcome of the project with policy making.