Supporting

• The Secretariat supports the Contracting Parties in their efforts to transpose and implement the provisions of the Directive.
• Contracting Parties can obtain practical advice and ideas for stepping up their efforts to comply with the thresholds of heavy fuel oil, gas oil as well as marine fuels.
   

Monitoring

• Progress on the implementation of the obligations stemming from the directive is reported in the environment chapter of the Annual Implementation Report.
• Contracting Parties have to submit each year information about their monitoring activities on the sulphur content of heavy fuel oil and gas oil.
   

Timeline

• general implementation deadline: 30 June 2018
• implementation deadline Georgia*: 1 September 2021

Tasks

• Contracting Parties have to introduce legal limitations of the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels to 1% (heavy fuel oil) and 0.1% (gas oil).
• Contracting Parties have to monitor that the fuels placed on their markets are complied with these thresholds.
• As of 2018, the provisions of the Directive on marine fuels also apply in the Energy Community.

Directive (EU) 2016/802 on the reduction of the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels aims to limit air pollution by setting maximum sulphur levels in heavy fuel oil and gas oil, thereby reducing sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from industrial combustion. Its purpose is to mitigate the environmental and health impacts associated with sulphur emissions, such as acid rain and poor air quality.

In October 2016, the 14th Ministerial Council adopted a package of four decisions that expanded and updated the environmental acquis. Among them, Decision 2016/15/MC-EnC formally incorporated Directive 2016/802 into the Energy Community framework, ensuring alignment with EU rules and strengthening efforts to improve air quality across the region.

The directive codifies and replaces Directive 1999/32/EC, which had been part of the Energy Community’s environmental acquis since the signature of the Treaty.