CELEX: 51985PC0377
Language: en
Date: 1985-07-16
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE AMENDING DIRECTIVE 75/716/EEC ON THE APPROXIMATION OF THE LAWS OF THE MEMBER STATES RELATING TO THE SULPHUR CONTENT OF CERTAIN LIQUID FUELS

14.8.85                                      Official Journal of the European Communities                             N o C 205/3
                                                                    II
                                                            (Preparatory Acts)
                                                      COMMISSION
                Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 75/716/EEC on the approximation of the
                          laws of the Member States relating to the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels
                                                           COM(85) 377 final
                                     (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 26 July 1985)
                                                             (85/C 205/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                Whereas, in addition, the Community became, by virtue
                                                                        of Council Decision 81/462/EEC (5) a contracting party
                                                                        to the Convention on long-range transboundary air
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                   pollution, which provides in particular for the
                                                                        development of strategies and policies to limit and, as far
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 100 and
                                                                        as possible, gradually reduce and prevent air pollution;
235 thereof,
                                                                        Whereas, in view of the noxious effects on the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                      environment of sulphur dioxide emissions and, in
                                                                        particular, the alarming degradation of certain
                                                                        ecosystems due to air pollution, there is an urgent need
Having regard          to   the   opinion    of   the   European        to reduce these emission levels wherever this can be
Parliament,                                                             achieved by measures that do not involve dispro-
                                                                        portionate costs;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                        Whereas sulphur emissions resulting from the use of gas
Social Committee,                                                       oil give rise to specific problems, such as the deterio-
                                                                        ration of monuments and the corrosion of materials,
                                                                        especially in urban areas;
Whereas Council Directive 75/716/EEC (*) obliges
Member States to take all necessary steps to ensure that
gas oils can be marketed in the Community only if their                 Whereas sulphur emissions coming from gas oil use give
sulphur content does not exceed certain limits;                         rise, especially in the urban environment, to specific
                                                                        problems such as, inter alia, monuments damaging and
                                                                        materials corrosion;
Whereas this Directive provides that the Commission
may, as appropriate, draw up suitable proposals, in
particular to amend the sulphur content limits of gas oils,             Whereas it is thus necessary to amend the sulphur
as a function of the levels of air pollution due to sulphur             content limits of gas oils marketed in the Community, as
dioxide;                                                                laid down in Directive 75/716/EEC, so as to reduce the
                                                                        emission levels of sulphur dioxide arising out of the use
                                                                        thereof as heating or motor fuel;
Whereas the European Community programmes of
action on the environment of 1973 (2), 1977 (3), and                    Whereas it is also necessary to amend the said Directive
1983 (4) stress the importance of preventing and reducing               so as to enable the Member States to require that gas oils
air pollution;                                                          with a very low sulphur content are used if this is
                                                                        necessary because of very serious problems of damage to
                                                                        the environment or the heritage connected with SO2
                                                                        emissions from this source.
O   OJ No L 307, 27. 11. 1976, p. 22.
O   OJ No C 112, 20. 12. 1973, p. 1.
O   OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977, p. 1.
(4) O J N o C 4 6 , 17.2. 1983, p. 1.                                   (') O J N o L 171,27.6. 1981, p. 11.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 205/4                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  14.8.85
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                            1987, if this is necessary in order to protect the
                                                                       environment, public health and the national heritage.
                          Article 1                                    2.     Member States shall inform the other Member
                                                                       States and the Commission in advance of any
Directive 75/716/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
                                                                       decisions which they intended to take in respect of
1. In Article 1, paragraphs 1 (b) and (c) are deleted.                paragraph 1 of this Article and of the criteria which
                                                                       guided their choice.'
2. Article 2 is replaced by the following:
                                                                   4. Article 6 is replaced by the following:
    'Article 2
                                                                        Article 6
   1.     Member States shall take all necessary steps to             The Commission shall monitor the effects of applying
   ensure that gas oils can be marketed in the                        this Directive, with particular reference to Articles 2
   Community only if their content of sulphur                          and 5, and will, as appropriate, draw up suitable
   compounds, expressed as sulphur, does not exceed                    proposals, in the light of any new information on the
   0,3 % by weight as from 1 July 1987.                                atmospheric sulphur dioxide pollution levels recorded,
   2.     Should environmental requirements or the state               on progress towards defining Community air quality
   of desulphurization technique change appreciably or                 objectives, on the state of the environment and on the
   should the economic situation in the Community as                   harmful effects of air pollution.'
   regards the supply of crude oil change substantially,
   the Commission may, on its own initiative or at the             5. Article 7 (2) is replaced by the following:
   request of a Member State, propose amendment to                     '2.    The reference method adopted for determining
   the sulphur content level indicated in paragraph 1.                 the sulphur content of gas oils which are marketed is
   The Council may decide on such amendment by a                       defined by European Standard EN 41.
   qualified majority.                                                The statistical interpretation of the results of the
   3.     If, because of a change in crude oil supplies,               checks made to determine the sulphur content of the
   changes should occur in the sulphur content of the oil              gas oils marketed shal be made according to standard
   such as to jeopardize supplies to consumers in view of              ISO 4259 (1979 edition).'
   the shortage of available desulphurization capacity, a
   Member State may allow on to its territory gas oils                                        Article 2
   which do not conform to the specification laid down
   in Paragraph 1. It shall forthwith notify the                   1.      Member States shall bring into force the requisite
   Commission, which shall, after consulting the other             laws, regulations and administrative provisions for
   Member States, decide within three months on the                compliance with this Directive by 1 July 1986 at the
   details of the derogation.'                                     latest and shall forthwith inform the Commission
                                                                   thereof.
3. Article 5 is replaced by the following:
                                                                   2.      Member States shall ensure that the texts of
    Article 5                                                      national legislation which they adopt in the field covered
                                                                   by this Directive are communicated to the Commission.
   1.     Member States may require the use in special
   zones or, if necessary, in all their territory of gas oils                                 Article 3
   the sulphur content of which is lower than 0,3 % but
   higher or equal to 0,2 % by weight as from 1 July               This Directive is addressed to the Member States.