Air pollution: emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants from diesel engines (amend. Direct. 88/77/EEC)

The Council felt it appropriate to introduce, as requested by the Parliament, a second stage of more stringent emission limit values by 2005, as well as to adopt provisions aiming at introducing before this date complementary measures on durability, on-board diagnostics and in-use conformity testing. In addition, the Council has decided to introduce a further stage applicable from October 2008 that aims for a further reduction of the NOx limit by 43% over the limit set for 2005. However, recognising that the necessary NOx reduction technology is not yet available, the Council has decided that the Commission shall report on the state of play of such technology by the end of 2002 accompanied, if necessary, by appropriate proposals. As the Council has judged that the apportionment of test cycles applicable for 2000 would no longer be valid for the stringent emission limits envisaged for 2005, it has decided that for 2005, all diesel engines must be tested on all cycles (ESC, ELR and ETC cycles) for the purpose of type approval. The Council has extended the scope of the Directive to provide for European type approval of gas-fuelled engines - liquified petroleum gas (LPG) or natural gas (NG). This is achieved through the application of the same emission limits for non-methane hydrocarbons (instead of total hydrocarbons) and methane for gas-fuelled engines. Gas engines are tested on the ETC cyle only and due to their inherently low particulate emission, gas engines are not subject to particulate measurement for the purposes of type approval. The Council has agreed to introduce specific values for extra-low emission vehicles (EEV) for use primarily in urban fleets. As has been the case in the other so-called Auto-Oil Directives, taxation provisions have been introduced and thus the Council has decided that Member States can apply tax incentives to encourage the earlier introduction of vehicles complying with future emission limits. However, incentives for vehicles complying with the more stringent standards will only be permitted from 01.10.2000 and incentives shall cease from the date of mandatory application of the legislative requirements.�