amending Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the sulphur content of marine fuels.

The Directive 1999/32/EC establishes limits on the maximum sulphur content of gas oils, heavy fuel oil in land-based applications as well as marine fuels for which it serves as the EU legal instrument to incorporate the sulphur provisions of the MARPOL Annex VI. The Directive furthermore contains some additional fuel-specific requirements for ships calling at EU ports, obligations related to the use of fuels covered by the Directive, and the placing on the market of certain fuels (e.g. marine gas oils). The Directive does not contain provisions to regulate ship emissions of NOx or PM.

By the amendment 2005/33/EC parallel requirements in the EU to those in MARPOL Annex VI in respect of the sulphur content of marine fuels was introduced. In addition, it also introduced a 0.1% maximum sulphur requirement for fuels used by ships at berth in EU ports from 1st January 2010. This Directive is currently under review with the goal to align it with the 2008 MARPOL amendment. Further information on the on-going amendment procedure can be found through:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/transport/ships_directive.htm