Article 3

1. No later than 1 January 2000, Member States shall prohibit the marketing of leaded petrol within their territory. 2. (a) Member States shall ensure that, no later than 1 January 2000, unleaded petrol can be marketed within their territory only if it complies with the environmental specifications set out in Annex I. Without prejudice to the provisions of subparagraph (a), Member States shall, from 1 January 2000, permit the marketing within their territory of unleaded petrol complying with the specifications of Annex III. Member States shall also ensure that, no later than 1 January 2005, unleaded petrol can be marketed within their territory only if it complies with the environmental specifications set out in Annex III. 3. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, a Member State may be allowed, on a request to be submitted to the Commission no later than 31 August 1999, to continue to permit the marketing of leaded petrol, until at the latest 1 January 2005, if it can demonstrate that the introduction of a ban would result in severe socioeconomic problems or would not lead to overall environmental or health benefits because of, inter alia, the climatic situation in that Member State. The lead content of leaded petrol shall not exceed 0,15 g/l and the benzene content shall comply with the specifications in Annex I. The other values of the specifications may remain unchanged compared to the present situation. 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, a Member State may be authorised, on a request to be submitted to the Commission no later than 31 August 1999, to continue to permit the marketing within its territory, until at the latest 1 January 2003, of unleaded petrol with a sulphur content which does not comply with the specification for sulphur content in Annex I but which does not exceed the current content, if it can demonstrate that severe difficulties would ensue for its industries in making the necessary changes in their manufacturing facilities during the period of time between the date of adoption of this Directive and 1 January 2000. 5. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, a Member State may be authorised, on a request to be submitted to the Commission no later than 31 August 2003, to continue to permit the marketing within its territory, until at the latest 1 January 2007, of unleaded petrol with a sulphur content which does not comply with Annex III but which does comply with Annex I, if it can demonstrate that severe difficulties would ensue for its industries in making the necessary changes in their manufacturing facilities during the period of time between the date of adoption of this Directive and 1 January 2005. 6. The Commission may authorise the derogations referred to in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 in accordance with the Treaty. The Commission shall notify the Member States and inform the European Parliament and the Council of its decision. 7. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, Member States may continue to permit the marketing of small quantities of leaded petrol with the specifications mentioned in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3 to a maximum of 0,5 % of total sales to be used by old vehicles of a characteristic nature and to be distributed through special interest groups.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-29 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.