MORE than 50,000 vehicles have been banned from using Shenzhen roads for failing to meet local exhaust emission standards since the city began issuing compulsory labels to show vehicles’ exhaust emissions in August 2004.

Vehicles whose exhaust emissions meet the Euro I standard and others using diesel whose emissions meet the Euro II standard carry green labels while vehicles failing to meet the standards are given a yellow label.

Vehicles with green labels are inspected once a year. Yellow label vehicles are subject to an inspection every six months and are taken off the road if they fail to pass a second inspection.

The banned vehicles were responsible for discharging a total of 17,000 tons of exhaust emissions each year, equal to that of the 700,000 green-label autos whose emissions meet the Euro III standard, Dai Guangzhi from the city’s vehicle emissions management office was quoted as saying by the Shenzhen Economic Daily on Friday.

There are another 200,000 yellow-label vehicles on Shenzhen’s roads which will be removed if they fail future checks.

Shenzhen is the second city after Beijing to issue compulsory exhaust emission labels.

Each vehicle owner is obliged to fix the label in the upper right corner of the windscreen. Any violation is subject to a fine of up to 1,000 yuan (US$132).

Yellow-tagged cars are also prevented from using busy sections and roads during certain hours to reduce pollution.

Dai said the city is considering closing more roads to yellow-label vehicles.

Shenzhen has only allowed sales of new vehicles whose exhaust emissions meet the Euro II standard since 2004 and those meeting the Euro III standard since this July 1.

A Euro II vehicle produces half the emissions of a Euro I vehicle and 50 percent more than a Euro III vehicle, according to Dai.

Shenzhen vehicles have had to use gasoline meeting the China III standard since April 1, which further helps reduce each vehicle’s emissions by 10 percent.

With these measures, 80,000 tons of car exhaust emissions can be cut each year, Dai said.

Despite the government’s efforts, a random survey by the Shenzhen Economic Daily of vehicles without labels showed owners were indifferent and unwilling to spend 30 yuan on applying for a label.

“I am seldom caught by traffic police for not having a label,” a car owner who refused to be named said. “What’s more, it doesn’t matter if I get a label or not as long as I don’t use the restricted areas.”

(Li Jing)