Air pollution: emissions from motor vehicles, Auto-oil programme (amend. Directive 70/220/EEC)

Adopting the recommendation for second reading by Mr Bernd Lange (PSE, D), Parliament retabled most of the amendments adopted at first reading, which the Council had not incorporated into its common position. Parliament calls for measures to fill the vacuum left by the lack of Community legislative provisions on CO2 emissions from motor vehicles. Thus, proposals aiming to bring about a further reduction of emissions after 2005 should take account of elements such as: the causal relationship between emissions and harm to environmental quality; improvement in the test procedure for particulate emissions; emissions from direct-injection petrol engines including particulate emissions; the potential for reducing vehicle emissions by new propulsion technologies and alternative fuels; identification of pollutant and CO2 emissions from vehicles using new forms of propulsion or alternative fuels. Tax incentives should be provided to encourage the use of vehicles with the most advanced anti-pollution equipment. Other amendments advocate more rapid replacement of old vehicles and retrofitting of older vehicles with emission control devices. The Commission is also called upon to submit by 30 June 1998 a report on the development of on-board diagnostics giving its opinion on the need for an extension of the OBD procedure. Parliament also considers that more effort should be made to market vehicles running on hydrogen and/or solar energy or methane. With regard to public passenger transport and goods distribution in urban areas, it considers that 10% of these vehicles should use renewable energy sources as fuel. �