National Fuel Quality Standards Regulation Impact Statement 1 ...

elevant international or internationally accepted standards to ensure that competition and
trade are not impeded.
3. OBJECTIVES
3.1 PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
An objective of Government health and environment policy is to reduce the adverse
effects of motor vehicle emissions on urban air quality, human health, and enhanced
greenhouse effect. 3.2 SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
The Government also has as objectives: a) the harmonisation of Australian vehicle
emission standards with international standards; and b) the national availability of
petrol and diesel of appropriate quality to allow the effective adoption of new
vehicle engine and emission control technologies.
These Government objectives are outlined in three policy statements: Safeguarding the
Future: Australia’s Response to Climate Change(1997), Measures for a Better
Environment (1999); and the Downstream Petroleum Products Action Agenda (1999).
The Prime Minister’s 1997 statement, Safeguarding the Future: Australia’s Response to
Climate Change sets out an Environmental Strategy for the Motor Vehicle Industry. The
objective of the strategy is threefold - to enhance the environmental performance of the
automotive industry; to reduce air pollution and improve the health of our cities; and to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The adoption of new and emerging vehicle engine and
emission control technologies is central to Government objectives with respect to the
improved management of both noxious and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Measures for a Better Environment package was announced by the Prime Minister in
May 1999 as part of the New Tax System for Australia. It consists of a series of
initiatives, many of them directed at the transport sector, to improve the management of
noxious (air pollutant) and greenhouse gases. It establishes a timetable for the
introduction of internationally harmonised vehicle emission standards and foreshadows
changes to the composition of transport fuel. Diesel specifications identified in Measures
for a Better Environment include a minimum standard of 500ppm sulfur in road transport
fuel from the end of 2002 and the introduction of a "mandatory fuel standard of 50ppm
(through a NEPM, equivalent legislative device or by use of the definition in the diesel
fuel credit scheme) in 2006". It also noted the requirement for high octane and low sulfur
levels in petrol. High-octane petrol enables higher thermal efficiencies to be achieved,
while low sulfur content is essential for the deployment of advanced fuel efficiency
technologies, such as direct injection, both of which help achieve reduced fuel
consumption.
The Measures for a Better Environmentpackage also introduced the Alternative Fuels
Conversion Program designed to facilitate the conversion or purchase of heavier
commercial vehicles and buses operating on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified
petroleum gas (LPG); and the Diesel and Alternative Fuels (Grants) Scheme designed to
maintain the relative equivalence of diesel and alternative fuel prices after July 2000.
While the alternative fuels program does not relate directly to measures designed to