Euro Council of Ministers: 10-PPM ULSD by 2009

Diesel Fuel News, Jan 7, 2002

The European Council of Environmental Ministers last month recommended a Jan. 1, 2009 deadline for a 10 parts per million ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), rather than 2008 as adopted by the Euro Parliament (see Diesel Fuel News 12/10/2001, p7) or the 2011 deadline earlier proposed by the Euro Commission.

So, the Council and Parliament eventually must reconcile the conflicting deadline dates, likely this spring.

The Council recommends that the Commission review the 10 ppm ULSD deadline, and whether Parliament's call for a 10 ppm ULSD is indeed required for non-road mobile machinery emissions limits by the proposed 2009 (or possibly 2008) deadline. This could be a key sticking point for reconciliation.

'Second Reading' Coming

Parliament will review the latest Council action, then take a "second reading" vote in this spring.

"It is expected that as the Council has moved towards the Parliament's position [an earlier-than-2011 deadline] that the second reading could be quite swift and a final agreement reached by the Council and Parliament by late Spring if all goes smoothly," explains Sandrine Dixson-Decleve of International Fuel Quality Center, in Brussels.

The 10 ppm ULSD deadline, and the non-road 10 ppm ULSD limit, will go through the Euro Commission's "review procedure" for diesel specifications, due by Dec. 30, 2005. This review will also consider further changes to cetane, distillation or other parameters, as urged by Europe's automakers.