The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels (England and Wales) Regulations 2000

Interpretation and application

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

(a) “combustion plant” means any technical apparatus in which fuels are oxidized in order to use the heat generated;

(b) “gas oil” means—

(i) any petroleum derived liquid fuel falling within CN code 2710 00 67 or 2710 00 68; or

(ii) any petroleum derived liquid fuel which, by reason of its distillation limits, falls within the category of middle distillates intended for use as fuel and of which at least 85 per cent by volume (including losses) distills at 350°C by the ASTM D86 method,

but shall not include diesel fuels, as defined in Article 2(2) of Council Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels(1) and fuels used in non-road mobile machinery and agricultural tractors;

(c) “heavy fuel oil” means—

(i) any petroleum derived liquid fuel falling within CN code 2710 00 71 to 2710 00 78; or

(ii) any petroleum derived liquid fuel, other than gas oil or marine gas oil, which, by reason of its distillation limits, falls within the category of heavy oils intended for use as fuel and of which less than 65 per cent by volume (including losses) distills at 250°C by the ASTM D86 method or of which the distillation cannot be determined by that method;

(d) “marine gas oil” means fuel intended for marine use which is gas oil or which has a viscosity or density falling within the ranges of viscosity or density defined for marine distillates in Table I of ISO 8217 (1996)(2);

(e) “sulphur content of liquid fuels permit” has the meaning given in regulation 3(6)(b)(iii).

(2) In paragraph (1)—

(a) “ASTM method” means the methods laid down by the American Society for Testing and Materials in the 1976 edition of standard definitions and specifications for petroleum and lubricating products(3);

(b) the reference to a numbered CN code is a reference to the code set out in the Integrated Customs Tariff of the United Kingdom (2000 edition) as the CN code with that number(4).

(3) These Regulations do not apply to—

(a) the use of fuel, other than of marine gas oil, by seagoing ships;

(b) the use of marine gas oil by ships crossing a frontier between a third country and a Member State;

(c) the use of fuel intended for processing prior to final combustion; and

(d) the use of fuel to be processed in the refining industry.

(4) Words used in these Regulations which are also used in Council Directive 1999/32/EC relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels(5) have the same meaning as in that Directive.

(1)

OJ L 350, 28.12.98, p. 58.

(2)

ISO 8217 (1996) is described in the British Standard entitled “ Specification for Petroleum Fuels for marine oil engines and boilers”, published under the numbers BS MA100 and ISO 8217:1996, which came into effect on 15th August 1996.

(3)

The ASTM method is described in the 1999 Annual Book of ASTM Standards: Section 5—Petroleum Products, Lubricants and Fossil Fuels, published by the American Society for Testing and Materials, November 1999.

(4)

The Integrated Customs Tariff of the United Kingdom (2000 edition) is published by HMSO (ISBN 0117818054).

(5)

OJ L 121, 11.5.99, p. 13.