Directive 1997/68 - Approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery - Main contents

official title

 

Legal instrument	Directive
Number legal act	Directive 1997/68
Original proposal	COM(1995)350
CELEX number i	31997L0068

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Directive 97/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1997 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery

Official Journal L 059 , 27/02/1998 P. 0001 - 0086

DIRECTIVE 97/68/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 1997 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty (3), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 11 November 1997,

• (1) 

  Whereas the Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (4) recognizes as a fundamental principle that all persons should be effectively protected against recognized health risks from air pollution and that this necessitates in particular the control of emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulates (PT) - black smoke, and other pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO); whereas with regard to the prevention of tropospheric ozone (O3) formation and its associated health and environmental impact, the emissions of the precursors nitrogenoxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC) must be reduced; whereas the environmental damage caused by acidification will also require reductions inter alia on the emission of NOx and HC;

• (2) 

  Whereas the Community signed the UN/ECE protocol on volatile organic compound (VOC) reduction in April 1992 and adhered to the protocol on NOx reduction in December 1993, both of which are related to the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution which was approved in July 1982;

• (3) 

  Whereas the objective of reducing the level of pollutant emissions from non-road mobile machinery engines and the establishment and operation of the internal market for engines and machinery cannot be sufficiently achieved by individual Member States, and can therefore be better achieved by the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against air pollution by engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery;

• (4) 

  Whereas recent investigations undertaken by the Commission show that the emissions from non-road mobile machinery engines constitute a significant proportion of the total man-made emissions of certain noxious atmospheric pollutants; whereas the category of compression ignition engines which will be regulated by this Directive is responsible for a considerable share of air pollution by NOx and PT, in particular when it is compared with that coming from the road transport sector;

• (5) 

  Whereas emissions from non-road mobile machinery operating on the ground equipped with compression ignition engines, and in particular the emissions of NOx and PT, constitute a primary cause of concern in this area; whereas these sources should be regulated in the first instance; whereas, however, it will also be appropriate subsequently to extend the scope of this Directive to include the control of emissions from other non-road mobile machinery engines, including transportable generating sets, based on appropriate test cycles, and in particular from gasoline engines; whereas a considerable reduction of the CO and HC emissions may be achievable with the envisaged enlargement of the scope of this Directive to include...

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