Report under Article 7 of Directive 2009/126/EC on Stage II petrol vapour recovery during refuelling of motor vehicles at service stations

Petrol storage and distribution is a source of emissions to air of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are precursors of tropospheric ozone (also referred to as ground-level ozone), a greenhouse gas which causes health problems and damages vegetation (thus reducing crop yields). In addition, some VOCs, such as benzene and toluene, also have harmful properties, e.g. chronic or acute toxicity.

Two complementary directives aim jointly to reduce VOC emissions from the storage and distribution of petrol:
- Directive 94/63/EC concerning emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the storage of petrol and distribution from terminals to service stations (the VOC-I Directive), which covers refineries and the delivery of petrol to service stations;
- Directive 2009/126/EC concerning petrol vapour recovery during refuelling of motor vehicles at service stations (the VOC-II Directive). Article 7 of the VOC-II Directive requires the Commission to review its implementation (in particular certain technical issues) and to report its findings to the European Parliament and the Council.

In its Communications on Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT): results and next steps and REFIT: State of play and outlook, the Commission announced that it was launching the evaluation of both VOC Directives. It was decided that it would be most efficient to carry out the implementation review of the VOC-II Directive and the evaluation of the two VOC Directives in parallel. This report focuses on the outcome of the implementation review and the follow-up to the evaluation of the VOC-II Directive.