Press Release: The European Commission notifies Member States on delays in implementing European legislation on biofuels

The European Commission on 16 March 2005 issued letters of formal notice to nine Member States that had not yet communicated their target for the share of biofuels in 2005, as required by the European legislation on biofuels. This legislation required that an increasing proportion of all diesel and petrol sold in the Member States be biofuels, starting with 2% in 2005 and progressively increasing so as to reach a minimum of 5.75% of fuels sold in 2010. The action plan adopted in 2001 to foster the use of alternative fuels for transport indicated that the use of fuels (such as ethanol and biodiesel) derived from agricultural sources was the technology with the greatest potential in the short to medium term.