Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the National Weights and Measures Laboratory
Question 67: Note on the Regulatory Impact Assessment
of Regulations to prohibit the use of dipsticks on road fuel tankers.
Regulation of the carriage of dangerous goods
within the UK (with the exception of transport of radioactive
material by road) is the responsibility of the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE).
Regulation 6(c) of the Carriage of Dangerous
Goods by Road Regulations 1996 (CDGRoad) and a supporting Approved
Document (the Approved Tank Requirements) require that "the
measurement of the content of a tank or compartment of a mobile
container first taken into use after 31 December 1999 shall not
be made by a method which would allow vapour to be released into
the atmosphere". In effect this prohibits the practice of
dipstick measurement.
The Approved Tank Requirements detail specific
and technical requirements. These particular Requirements implement
part of the Volatile Organic Compound Directive (VOC Stage 1 Directive
94/63/EC) which regulates emissions of volatile organic compounds
to air in order to protect the environment. This was part of a
much larger package of regulations governing the safe carriage
of dangerous goods put in place in 1996.
HSE consulted widely across industry on the
Approved Tank Requirements through Consultative Document Number
10 "Proposals for the Approved Vehicle Requirements and Approved
Tank Requirements" raising the issue of implementation of
the VOC Stage 1 Directive. The implications of changes to the
filling processes of petrol tankers were looked at in detail in
the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) that accompanied the regulations.
The CBA, which was revised to take account of
consultation, estimated that in 1996, costs for the petroleum
industry of compliance with the CDGRoad requirements for filling
tankers arising from the VOC Stage 1 Directive were between £6.6
million and £13.2 million (at 1994 values) over the period
1995-2009. The potential costs from losing the facilities to use
dipsticks would have been reflected in this CBA had HSE been made
aware of them. HSE was not able to quantify the overall benefits
of the 1996 package of regulations, including those in the approved
Tank Requirements. However the CBA concluded that "While
it is difficult to weigh the balance of costs and benefits, it
seems plausible that costs are more likely to exceed benefits
than the reverse. Both costs and benefits, however, are likely
to be reasonably modest."
Dr Jeff Llewellyn
Chief Executive
7 April 2003
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