PURPOSE: to lay down measures aimed at reducing the amount of petrol vapour emitted to the atmosphere during the refuelling of motor vehicles at service stations.
PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.
CONTENT: the emissions of volatile organic compounds contained in petrol contribute to local and regional air quality problems (benzene and ozone) for which Community air quality standards and objectives exist. Ground level ozone is a pollutant which crosses national borders and is also the third most important greenhouse gas. Benzene is a known human carcinogen.
This legislative proposal aims at recovering petrol vapour which is emitted to the atmosphere during the refuelling of passenger cars at service stations (so called "Stage II Petrol Vapour Recovery or PVR").
The proposal has been prepared following commitments made by the College in:
I. the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution;
II. the Commission's proposal to amend Directive 98/70/EC on petrol and diesel quality which aims to facilitate a greater uptake of biofuels and bioethanol in particular by relaxing the vapour pressure requirements of petrol;
III. a statement accompanying a new directive on ambient air quality in which the Commission recognised the importance of tackling air pollution at source in order to attain air quality objectives and which proposed several new Community source-based measures including Stage II PVR.
The proposal:
- would oblige the installation of Stage II petrol vapour recovery equipment at new and refurbished stations above 500m3 throughput per annum of petrol;
- require retrofitting of existing stations with a throughput above 3000 m3 by 2020;
- require all new or substantially refurbished stations situated under residential accommodation to equip with Stage II controls irrespective of size;
- no obligation to install automatic monitoring of Stage II PVR equipment but permit a longer period between inspections if it is installed.