A German proposal to develop new emission standards for diesel engines has garnered some support among members of the European Commission.

Plans devised by the German environment minister Juergen Trittin were put to the EU Environmental Council, and called for the introduction of new emission standards for particulates for diesel passenger cars by Autumn 2004.

Mr Trittin's ideas have won some backing in the June 28th session of the Council in Luxembourg according to DieselNet, and he elaborated on particulate control.

"This is a clear signal to act fast European-wide to resolve the fine particle problem. Using the particulate filter, 99 per cent of the particulate emissions can be filtered out," he commented.

"This technique is ready to go into production, and has been already applied more than 500,000 times. This state of technology must be the basis for new regulatory limits."

Potential Euro 5 emission standards for light duty vehicles are still in negotiation, with a variety of European and national agencies involved.

The Euro 5 proposal is expected to be accompanied by a proposal to strengthen the Euro V (2008) emission standards for heavy-duty engines.