Up to now, the problem of the increase in ozone and photo-oxidants concentrations in the troposphere has remained less understood by decision-makers than that of the additional greenhouse effect or the decrease in the stratospheric ozone layer. Yet, the direct consequences of this increase concern the balance of plant ecosystems and the health of populations that are altered by the powerful oxidizing nature of this ozone as well as climatic balances, since ozone is a greenhouse-effect gas that is 1000 times more active than an equal concentration of carbon dioxide. On the global scale, experimental observations show that, since the start of the 20th century, the ozone level in the free atmosphere has been multiplied by 4 in the Northern hemisphere and by 2 in the Southern Hemisphere. This increase is the result of the direct production of ozone in the lower atmosphere by photochemical reactions, involving nitrogen oxides, volatile organic components, carbon monoxide and methane, the amount of which is increasing very fast as the result of anthropogenic activities. In addition to this increase on the global scale, there is also an increase in the frequency of the occurrence of local pollution episodes, linked mainly to the accumulation of ozone precursors, i.e. mainly nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Photochemical pollution phenomena are no longer solely the result of several large cities but are becoming prevalent in all the industrialized or developing countries. To cope with this fast increase, the present rate of which would lead to the doubling of the ozone concentrations in the troposphere in less than 40 years, regulatory measures are being set up in several countries, and particularly in the European Union. Respecting them will require the development of coherent strategies to reduce the precursors, based on models pertaining to the different spatial scales involved.