The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

Made15th October 2015

Laid before Parliament28th October 2015

Coming into force18th November 2015

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 30(1), 30(3), 31(1), and 31(3) of the Clean Air Act 1993 (“the 1993 Act”)1, makes the following Regulations.

In accordance with section 30(2) of the 1993 Act the Secretary of State has consulted such persons as appeared to the Secretary of State to represent manufacturers and users of motor vehicles and to represent the producers and users of fuel for motor vehicles and to be conversant with problems of air pollution.

In accordance with section 31(2) of the 1993 Act the Secretary of State has consulted such persons as appeared to the Secretary of State to represent producers and users of oil fuel and to represent manufacturers and users of plant and equipment for which oil fuel is used and to be conversant with problems of air pollution.

Citation and commencement1

These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 and come into force on 18th November 2015.

Amendment of the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 19992

1

The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 19992 are amended as follows.

2

In regulation 2, for the definition of “the Directive”, substitute—

“the Directive” means Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels 3 and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC.

Review3

1

The Secretary of State must from time to time—

a

carry out a review of these Regulations,

b

set out the conclusions of the review in a report, and

c

publish the report.

2

In carrying out the review the Secretary of State must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how Commission Directive 2014/77/EU, which is implemented by means of these Regulations, is implemented in other member States.

3

The report must in particular—

a

set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory system established by these Regulations;

b

assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved, and

c

assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a system that imposes less regulation.

4

The first report under this regulation must be published before the end of the period of 5 years beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force.

5

Reports under this regulation are afterwards to be published at intervals not exceeding five years.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Andrew JonesParliamentary Under Secretary of StateDepartment for Transport15th October 2015

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/3107) (“the 1999 Regulations”).

The Regulations transpose the amendments to Annexes I and II of Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC (OJ L 350, 28.12.1998, p.58) made by Commission Directive 2014/77/EU of 10 June 2014 (OJ L 170, 11.6.2014, p.62) (“the 2014 Directive”). The 2014 Directive updates footnotes in Annexes I and II of Directive 98/70/EC so as to reference the latest versions of the industry fuel standards EN228 and EN590.

Regulation 2(2) replaces the definition of the Directive in the 1999 Regulations in order to incorporate amendments made to Directive 98/70/EC by Directive 2014/77/EU.

Regulation 3 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them.

An impact assessment has not been produced as this instrument changes only minor technical details of the 1999 Regulations to bring them into line with current industry practice and no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen. The Explanatory Memorandum to which a Transposition Note is annexed is published alongside the instrument on the UK legislation website, www.legislation.gov.uk.