Air pollution: measures to be taken against emission of gaseous pollutants from diesel engines (amend. Directive 88/77/EEC)

This proposal seeks to amend Directive 88/77/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the measures to be taken against the emission of pollutants from diesel engines for use in vehicles. It forms part of the type approval procedure for motor vehicles and their trailers set out in framework directive 70/156/EEC. With the current state of the art, most diesel engines with net power of less than 85 kW will be unable to comply by 1995 with the extremely strict limit value for particulate emissions laid down in Directive 91/542/EEC for the second stage. In order to slash particulate emissions from these vehicles from October 1995 onwards, it is proposed: - not to apply the limit value for particulate emissions laid down in Directive 91/542/EEC to low-powered diesel engines with a swept volume of less than 0.7 dm3 and a rating of over 3000 min until 1999; - to allow Member States to grant tax incentives in order to encourage the sale of vehicles which comply with Community requirements in order to speed up the fast application of lower particulate emission standards by diesel engines with net power of less than 85 kW; - to introduce new provisions on conformity of production: type approval of all types of vehicles with a diesel engine, certificate of conformity issued by the manufacturer or his distributor containing a marking composed of a type approval number preceded by the abbreviation for the country which issued the EEC type approval, the engine manufacturer's production or marketing trademark and the manufacturer's commercial description. It will only be possible to market, sell and use vehicles and engines which comply with the provisions of this directive in the Member States. The provisions of the directive will need to be adapted to technical progress and new requirements introduced for a second stage with a view to reducing emissions of gaseous pollutants.�