2003/3/EC: Commission Decision of 17 December 2002 on a request from Greece for authorisation to use heavy fuel oils with a maximum sulphur content of 3 % by mass in part of its territory (notified under document number C(2002) 2475)
Date: 2002-12-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Greece, air quality, derogation from EU law, environmental protection, fuel oil, pollution control, sulphur

L 4/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

9.1.2003

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 17 December 2002

on a request from Greece for authorisation to use heavy fuel oils with a maximum sulphur content
of 3 % by mass in part of its territory

(notified under document number C(2002) 2475)

(Only the Greek text is authentic)

(2003/3/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 1999/32/EC of 26 April
1999 relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain
liquid fuels and amending Directive 93/12/EC (1), and in parti-
cular the second subparagraph of Article 3(5) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Pursuant
to Article 3(1) of Directive 1999/32/EC
Member States are required to take all necessary steps to
ensure that as from 1 January 2003 within their territory
heavy fuel oils are not used if their sulphur content
exceeds 1 % by mass.

Pursuant to Article 3(2), of that directive a Member State
may, under certain conditions, authorise heavy fuel oils
with a sulphur content of between 1 % and 3 % by mass
to be used in part or the whole of its territory.

Greece applied on 17 December 2001 for the Commis-
sion's approval for the authorisation of the use of heavy
fuel oil with a maximum sulphur content of 3 % by mass
in the whole of its territory, except for the Attica Basin.
Greece states that a maximum sulphur content of 3 %
by mass is 10 % lower than that of the heavy fuel oil
currently in use.

The Commission requested additional information from
the Greek authorities on 23 January 2002. Greece
submitted this information on 19 February 2002 and
subsequently revised its request on 4 June 2002 to seek
a time-limited derogation until 2008 with a review for
the remaining period.

(1) OJ L 121, 11.5.1999, p. 13.

Greece provided data stating that the relevant Commu-
nity ambient air quality standards for sulphur dioxide set
down in Council Directive 80/779/EEC of 15 July 1980
on air quality limit values and guide values for sulphur
dioxide and suspended particulates (2) and Council Direc-
tive 1999/30/EC of 22 April 1999 relating to limit
values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides
of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead in ambient
air (3), as amended by Commission Decision 2001/744/
EC (4), are complied with. In addition, on the basis of
indicative measurements taken at three representative
points, which coincide with ecosystem zones, concentra-
tions for sulphur dioxide in ambient air are below the
20 µg/m3-limit value for the protection of ecosystems set
out
in
in Directive 1999/30/EC. Greece states that
general concentrations of sulphur dioxides in ambient
air within its territory are low, nevertheless,
in areas
surrounding major thermal stations powered with lignite
are higher. However, measurements
concentrations
provided by Greece,
from monitoring stations several
kilometres from the lignite-powered stations are within
the relevant limit values set out in Directive 80/779/EEC
as amended by Directive 89/427/EEC (5).

(6)

Greece states that emissions of sulphur dioxide presently
amount to approximately 483 000 tonnes per annum.
However, the level of emissions is expected to fall to
300 000 tonnes per annum due to increasing use of
natural gas in the thermal power generation sector and
due to measures that will be required to comply with

(2) OJ L 229, 30.8.1980, p. 30.
(3) OJ L 163, 29.6.1999, p. 41.
(4) OJ L 278, 23.10.2001, p. 35.
(5) OJ L 201, 14.7.1989, p. 53.

9.1.2003

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 4/17

Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of
emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large
combustion plants (1).

(13)

The Commission requested EMEP to evaluate the addi-
tional information provided by Greece on 30 July and 3
October 2002, respectively. Supported by the Coordina-
tion Centre for Effects on Mapping of Critical Levels and
Loads (CCE) EMEP confirmed the former conclusion that
Greek emissions of sulphur dioxide as reported by
Greece for the year 2000 contribute to the exceedance
loads for acidity in Italy. The results are
of critical
report of 19 November 2002,
summarised in a
according to which it
substantiated beyond any
reasonable doubt that Greek emissions do contribute to
excess deposition above the critical loads for acidifica-
tion in other Member States, particularly Italy.

is

In light of
the information provided by Greece on
ambient air quality and the analysis conducted by EMEP
supported by CCE on the Greek contribution to critical
loads being exceeded, the Commission considers that the
condition, as adopted by the Council, regarding critical
that must be complied with for a
load exceedance,
Member State to be permitted to authorise the use of
heavy fuel oils with a sulphur content of between 1 %
and 3 % by mass in part or the whole of its territory, is
not met and therefore the Commission cannot grant the
derogation requested by Greece.

(14)

(15)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accor-
dance with the opinion of the Committee established
under Article 9 of Directive 1999/32/EC,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The request by Greece to authorise the use of heavy fuel oils
with maximum sulphur content of between 1 % and 3 % by
mass in part of its territory from 1 January 2003 is denied.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Hellenic Republic.

Done at Brussels, 17 December 2002.

For the Commission

Margot WALLSTRÖM

Member of the Commission

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

Greece states that while it makes virtually no contribu-
tion to the deposition of sulphur or the critical loads for
acidity being exceeded in other Member States,
it
acknowledges that
the sulphur
deposition in Italy.

it contributes 1 % of

The Commission requested the help of the cooperative
programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long
range transmission of air pollutants in Europe (EMEP),
which conducted a more detailed analysis of the Greek
contribution to sulphur deposition, in particular in Italy,
where critical loads for acidity are exceeded in 5 % of
the ecosystems that are sensitive to acidification.

The results of this analysis by EMEP, contained in reports
of 22 February and 22 March 2002 show that approxi-
mately 57 % of the Greek sulphur dioxide emissions
originate outside the Attica Basin and that the geogra-
phical area affected by these emissions extends over the
whole of Europe as a consequence of the long range
transport.

In the case of Italy, the EMEP analysis shows that Greek
emissions contribute to critical
loads for acidity being
exceeded in at least six grid squares where exceedances
of critical loads were established. In those grid squares
the contribution from Greece does not exceed 0,5 %.
EMEP concludes that this analysis is in agreement with
calculations that assign 1 % of the total sulphur deposi-
tion in Italy to Greece.

(11) On 5 July 2002, the Greek authorities announced that
the already submitted notification was incomplete and
that additional information would be submitted by the
end of July. By letter of 15 July 2002, the Commission
took note of the above and requested the Greek authori-
ties to provide the announced information as soon as
possible, indicating that the period of six months set up
in Article 3(5) of the Directive would start to run when
such information was received.

(12) On 30 July 2002 the Greek authorities submitted data
on sulphur dioxide emissions in Greece for the year
2000 and suggested that the Greek request should be
examined on the basis of this data. On 3 October 2002,
they also submitted a recent assessment of the protection
level of ecosystems in Italy with a view to the Greek
contribution to exceedance of critical loads for acidity.

(1) OJ L 309, 27.11.2001, p. 1.