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| Tuesday 02 October 2001 |
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4Denmark's initiative |
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In order to limit the risk of groundwater pollution by leaking gasoline underground storage tanks, Denmark is taking a very pragmatic approach, through a tax incentive scheme. |
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The Council of the European Union has authorised Denmark to apply a lower excise duty (up to 0.03 Danish Krone/litre) to petrol distributed by service stations meeting certain standards of equipment and operation.
Denmark requested this measure in order to provide an incentive to operators to upgrade their service stations and thus prevent leakage from underground storage tanks. Although Denmark based this request on the need to protect soil and groundwater from possible leaks of MTBE from underground tanks, the Council stresses that leakage of MTBE into groundwater does not represent a health problem.
This decision emphasises that the key to safeguarding soil and groundwater quality is the robust enforcement of regulations and the good up-keeping of petrol underground storage tanks.
To access the document (pdf format), click here |
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