Air pollution: compression ignition engines by non-road mobile machinery

The committee adopted the report by Bernd LANGE (PES, D) amending the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure. The main amendments were as follows: - for greater clarity, Stage IIIA should become Stage III and Stage IIIB should become Stage IV. This would also make it clear that Stage IV is another genuine stage of reduction with new requirements; - there should be stricter emission limit values to bring EU legislation into line with that of the United States; - rail vehicles (R1 below 560 kW, R2 above 560 kW) should be included in both stages; - a second stage (Stage IV) should be introduced for inland waterway vessels for NOX reduction; - Member States should allow special labelling to indicate early compliance with the standards of Euro Stage III and IV limit values; - exemptions should be allowed for engines in machines used to launch or recover lifeboats and traditional vessels such as "cobles" (traditional open fishing boats) and engines in machines used in harvesting and other specialised applications for a limited season only; - the Commission should lay down detailed rules before 31 December 2006 to prevent 'cycle beating'. �