WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/200 
11 July 2008 
 (08-3370) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax: +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Products in the field of 
electricity, heating and cooling, transport. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Proposal for a 
Directive of the European Parliament and of  the Council on the promotion of the use of 
energy from renewable sources, COM(2008) 19 fina l, (61 pages, in English, French and 
Spanish). 
6. Description of content:   To achieve the EU’s renewable energy policy goals, the European 
Commission has proposed the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
the promotion of the use of energy from renewabl e sources.  This aims to establish national 
renewable energy targets that result in an overa ll binding target of a 20% share of renewable 
energy sources in energy consumption in 2020 and a binding 10% minimum target for 
biofuels in transport to be achieved by each Member State. 
Technical regulations are contained in Article  18 Paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Commission 
Proposal, in combination with Annexes V and VI. G/TBT/N/EEC/200 
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  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
The rationale regarding the technical regulations  contained in Article 18 Paragraphs (2) and 
(3) of the Commission Proposal, in combina tion with Annexes V and VI is as follows: 
Currently, the major use of biofuels is in lo w blends with petrol and diesel. Under existing 
rules, a maximum of 5% by volume of bioeth anol can be blended into petrol (Directive 
98/70/EC) and a maximum 5% of biodiesel by volume can be blended into diesel (technical 
standard EN590:2004). In its proposal which will amend Directive 98/70, the Commission 
proposed increasing the limit on the blending of  bioethanol in petr ol from 5% to 10%. 
 Fulfilling the EU target of a 10% share of biof uels (by energy content) will require the use 
of approximately 33 Mtoe of biofuels in 2020.  A 10% volume share of ethanol in petrol 
would equate to 10.1 Mtoe. A 5% volume sh are of biodiesel in diesel – as permitted under 
the current standard – would equate to 8.3 Mtoe . Other biofuel applications would then have 
to contribute at least 14.6 Mtoe. Such appli cations include: use of 100% biodiesel, second 
generation biofuels, hydrotreated oils, pure plant oil, E85.  
These options are either still at a development stage, very costly, require engine 
modifications or will remain limited in the EU.  Even if the blending limit for biodiesel in diesel is increased to 10% by volume, these other applications will still have to contribute to th e 10% target. However, this contribution would 
have to be significantly lower - at the level of  6.2 Mtoe – and therefore more achievable. It 
is therefore concluded that a change to a 10% maximum blend of biodiesel in diesel is necessary and desirable. 
Given the importance of this issue for the implementation of the Community's renewable 
energy targets, it seems inappropriate for th e maximum share of biodiesel in diesel (unlike 
the maximum share of bioethanol in petrol) to remain regulated at the industry level rather 
than moving into the legislative sphere, with th e greater certainty for investors that this can 
offer. This measure is expected to help ach ieve the 10% target of biofuels in energy 
consumption by 2020. 
8. Relevant documents:   Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the 
Council on the promotion of the use of en ergy from renewable sources (presented by the 
Commission), {COM(2008) 30 final}, {SEC(2008) 57}, {SEC(2008) 85}, Brussels, 23.1.2008, COM(2008) 19 final, 2008/0016 (COD) 
Commission Staff Working Document, Impact  Assessment, Document accompanying the 
Package of Implementation measures for the EU's objectives on climate change and renewable energy for 2020, Proposals for Direc tive of the European Parliament and of the 
Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the EU greenhouse 
gas emission allowance trading system, Deci sion of the European Parliament and the 
Council on the effort of Member States to redu ce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the 
Community’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020, Directive of the 
European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of use of renewable energy sources, {COM(2008) 16}, {COM(2008) 17}, {COM(2008) 19}, Brussels, 23.1.2008, SEC(2008) 85/3. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    Spring 2009 
20 days from publication in the Official Journal of the EU 
10. Final date for comments:   90 days from date of notification  G/TBT/N/EEC/200 
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  11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [    ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:+(32) 2 299 80 43 
E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
 The text is available on the EC-TBT Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/
   
and at  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex UriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0019:FIN:EN:PDF
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex UriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0019:FIN:FR:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex UriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0019:FIN:ES:PDF  
 and http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2008/tbt/EEC/08_2077_00_e.pdf