Japan Establishes World's Strictest Vehicle Emission Regulations

By amending the exhaust emission standards for cars, trucks and buses, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) introduced "new long-term regulations" on September 26, 2003, that are the most stringent in the world. Though the new regulations will go into effect in October 2005, the MLIT is able to examine new-model cars based on the new standards from October 1, 2003.

The new standards drastically lower exhaust emission limits. For cars, both nitrogen oxide (NOx) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions limits are reduced by 55 percent from previous levels, while for heavyweight vehicles such as trucks and buses, particulate matter (PM) limits are reduced by 85 percent, NOx by 40 percent, and HC emissions by 80 percent.

If all vehicles subject to the new standards were replaced by those complying with the new regulations, reductions in annual exhaust emissions from vehicles nationwide compared to the fiscal 2000 levels would be as follows:
Particulate matter (PM): about 94 percent reduction (from 64,000 to 4,000 tons)
Nitrogen oxides (NOx): about 66 percent reduction (from 640,000 to 210,000 tons)
Hydrocarbons (HC): about 93 percent reduction (from 200,000 to 14,000 tons)




Posted: 2003/12/31 11:58:14 AM
Japanese version