Article 4

Council Directive 1999/32/EC of 26 April 1999 relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels and amending Directive 93/12/EEC · European Union

Maximum sulphur content in gas oil 1. Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure that gas oils, including marine gas oils, are not used within their territory as from: July 2000 if their sulphur content exceeds 0,20 % by mass, 1 January 2008 if their sulphur content exceeds 0,10 % by mass. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Spain, for the Canary Islands, France, for the French Overseas Departments, Greece, for the whole or part of its territory, and Portugal, for the archipelagoes of Madeira and Azores may authorise the use of gas oils for marine use with a sulphur content in excess of the limits set out in paragraph 1. 3. Provided that the air quality standards for sulphur dioxide laid down in Directive 80/779/EEC or in any Community legislation which repeals and replaces these standards and other relevant Community provisions are respected and the emissions do not contribute to critical loads being exceeded in any Member State, a Member State may authorise gas oil with a sulphur content between 0,10 and 0,20 % by mass to be used in part or the whole of its territory. Such authorisation shall apply only while emissions from a Member State do not contribute to critical loads being exceeded in any Member State and shall not extend beyond 1 January 2013. 4. If a Member State avails itself of the possibilities referred to in paragraph 3, it shall, at least 12 months beforehand, inform the Commission and the public. The Commission shall be given sufficient information to assess whether the criteria mentioned in paragraph 3 are met. The Commission shall inform the other Member States. Within six months of the date on which it receives the information from the Member State, the Commission shall examine the measures envisaged and, in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 9, take a decision which it shall communicate to the Member States.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-05 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.