The European Commission proposed on Wednesday tougher legal limits on health-damaging dirty air and rules to make pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies pay to clean up wastewater polluted by their products.

The European Union's executive proposed three laws targeting air and water pollution. Among them is a requirement that, by 2030, EU countries must meet new legally-binding air pollution limits that will be closer to the stricter World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

"Air pollution is still the largest environmental threat to our health. The impacts are worse for the most vulnerable - children, the elderly, people with certain medical conditions," EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius told Reuters.