EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/334

(2004/C 84 E/0393)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0203/04

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) and Bernd Lange (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2004)

Subject: Spanish Fuel Quality Law — Royal Decree 1700/2003

In a recent Royal Decree (Real Decreto 1700/2003) implementing Directive 2003/17 (1) on fuel quality, the Spanish government has intentionally deviated from requirements under European fuel quality legislation for gasoline by changing the volatility (RVP) specifications in the national law.

The Spanish Decree also deviates from the European biodiesel FAME standard, agreed under the auspices of the European standards organisation, as regards iodine specifications.

How will the Commission react to the Spanish law in order to ensure that EU environmental legislation is uniformly applied in all Member States?

How would these changes to fuel quality specifications affect vehicle emissions and the attainment of objectives agreed under the Auto-Oil Programmes as regards different air pollutants, and could these deviations have a distorting effect in the internal market?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2004)

The attention of the Commission has already been drawn to the recently adopted Spanish Royal Decree (1700/2003) with regard to the apparent deviations from the requirements of Directive 2003/17/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 3 March 2003 on the quality of petrol and diesel fuels. In the short term, the Commission is investigating this case with regard to deviations from the legal requirements laid down in Directive 98/70/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 (2) and the European bio diesel FAME standard, as raised by the Honourable Member.

In the longer term, as part of its review of Directive 2003/17/EC, the Commission will examine the compatibility of the specifications for petrol and diesel with increased use of bio fuels in the transport sector. Amongst other issues, the review will examine the question of the volatility specifications for petrol in the light of an increased use of ethanol, any potential effect on air quality objectives and any problems that may affect the driveability of motor vehicles. In so doing the Commission will take into account the costs and benefits of any change to the specifications and ensure there is no distortion of the functioning of the internal market. It will take into account the recently-adopted bio fuels directive (Directive 2003/30/EC (3)), which requires Member States to set targets on the use of bio fuels and which highlights the need to adapt standards in order to permit this. As specified in Article 9 of Directive 2003/17/EC, this review is due to be completed before the end of 2005.

Until any proposal to amend the legislation resulting from the review is agreed by the Council and the Parliament, the requirements of Directive 2003/17/EC must continue to be respected and applied by the Member States. Therefore, the Commission has opened a case against Spain concerning the problem raised by the Honourable Member.

(1) OJ L 76, 22.3.2003, p. 10.

(2) OJ L 350, 28.12.1998, as amended by Directive 2003/17/EC, OJ L 76, 22.3.2003.

(3) OJ L 123, 17.5.2003.