Albanian gov't drafts law to raise emission standards

To tackle the country's air pollution, Albanian government is drafting a law, which may bring in harsher vehicles emission standards, local media reported Monday.

According to the report, Albanian Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Transport are in charge of the drafting.

Exhaust gases from vehicles are believed a main cause of the air pollution of the country, as more than 500,000 vehicles with an emission standard equivalent to Euro 1 Standard and at an average age of about 18.4 years are running on roads, the report cited experts drafting the law as reporting.

Sources with the two ministries said on Monday that the law, if passed, will ban cars produced before the year of 2000 from roads, unless the owners manage to renovate their cars to meet "Euro 3" standard before next July.

Albanian Environment Minister Lefter Koka said the draft law is in line with the government's commitments to cutting air pollutants.

But he assured that the attempt will not affect the economy of households possessing old cars.

Albania is now the only country in Europe that still has cars under Euro 1 standard. Enditem