| dc.description.abstract | The specifications for petrol and diesel sold in the European Union are laid down in Directive 98/70/EC. Two sets of specifications are included in the Directive; the first entered into force on 1 January 2000 and the second on 1 January 2005. The Directive also requires Member States to report summaries of the quality of fuels sold in their territories. For reporting on monitoring carried out up to the end of 2003 the format laid out in Commission Decision 2002/159/EC of 18 February 20025 should be applied. For reporting on monitoring from 2004 on Member States must report in accordance with the new European Standard, EN 14274, or with systems of equivalent confidence. Article 8 of Directive 98/70/EC, as amended by Article 1(5) of Directive 2003/17/EC, requires the Commission to forward the results of Member States’ fuel quality reporting. In compliance with this request this second Commission Report summarises the quality of petrol and diesel, as well as the volumes sold, in the Community for the year 2003. The reporting years 2001 and 2002 are covered by the first Commission Report6. A detailed summary of the national reports can be found on the Commission’s web page7. Additional reporting requirements laid down in Directive 2003/17/EC, e.g. the availability and geographical coverage of fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg, are not covered by this report since Member States are not reporting in accordance with this requirement before the transposition of the Directive into national legislation is completed, i.e. at best by mid 2005, covering the reporting year 2004 |
