Directive 2003/17 - Amendment of Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels - Main contents

official title

 

Legal instrument	Directive
Number legal act	Directive 2003/17
Original proposal	COM(2002)604
CELEX number i	32003L0017

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Directive 2003/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 March 2003 amending Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels (Text with EEA relevance)

Official Journal L 076 , 22/03/2003 P. 0010 - 0019

Directive 2003/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 3 March 2003

amending Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee(2),

After consultation of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 20 January 2003,

Whereas:

• (1) 

  Directive 98/70/EC(4) lays down the environmental specifications for market fuels.

• (2) 

  Article 95 of the Treaty provides that Commission proposals having as their object the establishment and functioning of the internal market and concerning, inter alia, health and environmental protection, will take as a base a high level of protection and that the European Parliament and the Council will also seek to achieve this objective.

• (3) 

  A revision of Directive 98/70/EC is foreseen in order to meet the requirements of Community air quality standards and related objectives and in order to incorporate additional specifications to complement those mandatory specifications already laid down in Annex III and Annex IV to the Directive.

• (4) 

  A reduction of the sulphur content of petrol and diesel fuels has been identified as a means of contributing to the achievement of those objectives.

• (5) 

  The adverse effect of sulphur in petrol and diesel fuels on the effectiveness of catalytic exhaust gas after-treatment technologies is well established for on-road vehicles and increasingly in the case of non-road mobile machinery.

• (6) 

  Road vehicles are increasingly reliant upon catalytic after-treatment devices to attain the emissions limits laid down in Council Directive 70/220/EEC of 20 March 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States on measures to be taken against air pollution by emissions from motor vehicles(5) and Council Directive 88/77/EEC of 3 December 1987 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the measures to be taken against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from compression ignition engines for use in vehicles, and the emission of gaseous pollutants from positive ignition engines fuelled with natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas for use in vehicles(6). Accordingly a reduction in the sulphur content of petrol and diesel fuels is likely to have a larger impact on exhaust emissions than changes to the other fuel parameters.

• (7) 

  The introduction of fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg will improve the fuel efficiency attainable with new, emerging vehicle technologies and should be examined in the case of non-road mobile machinery and should lead to significant reductions in emissions of conventional air pollutants when used in existing vehicles. These benefits will compensate for the increased emissions of CO2 associated with the production of lower sulphur petrol and diesel fuels.

• (8) 

  It is therefore appropriate to lay down measures ensuring the introduction and availability of fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg. In this regard fiscal incentives have been shown to be effective in promoting the early introduction of higher quality fuels according to national needs and priorities and to shorten the transition period where two...

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