Shanghai's legislature endorsed a bill yesterday that is expected to ban vehicles that emit black exhaust.

This revision to Shanghai's existing amendments to a national law on the prevention of air pollution - due to take effect on January 1 - stipulates that no vehicles are allowed to emit black exhaust.

The drivers of any vehicles seen doing so or those whose emissions contain more pollutants than the national or city standards will have their licenses confiscated. They will also have to have their vehicles fixed within a set period. Violators will only get their licenses back when they pass an emissions test.

All vehicles must receive regular emissions tests. People who fail to take the tests will not receive a pass from the city's traffic department allowing them to drive.

The revision is expected to improve the city's air quality, which is being affected by the increasing amount of traffic on the streets.

Xu Zhuxin, director of the Shanghai Municipal Environment Protection Bureau, said vehicle emissions had become a major cause of air pollution.

Vehicles contribute 80 percent of the air pollution downtown. And the number of cars in the city has been rising despite the higher cost of license plates.

Since 1994, Shanghai has been limiting the number of vehicles in the city by auctioning off a fixed number of license plates every year. Prices have soared as demand has increased.

A record was set last month for the most expensive license plate at 49,631 yuan (US$6,565). The city expects to break the 50,000-yuan mark this month.

By the end of last year, there were nearly 2.43 million vehicles in Shanghai. Some 2.13 million of them - 1.11 million cars and 1.02 million motorcycles - had Shanghai plates.

In July 2001, the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress passed an amendment to a national law on preventing air pollution. It emphasized limiting car exhaust.

Early this year, the Shanghai municipal environment protection bureau submitted a revision to the amendment to the city's legislature. The revision sought tougher restrictions.

The revision was scheduled for a vote in August, but it was postponed due to doubts among legislators that it would force most buses, which are often seen emitting black exhaust, off the road.

But a report from the environment bureau yesterday showed that the city government was trying to improve its bus fleet, and by the time the revision takes effective, only those buses that are maintained poorly will have to be taken out of circulation.

A plan launched last year had upgraded 1,500 buses and 18,500 taxies by the end of June. And regular spot examinations are being carried out.

(China Daily October 11, 2007)