Caption title. Includes bibliographical references.

There has been tremendous fuel standardization and regulatory activity in the European Union since 1993, in response to the increasingly severe vehicle emissions regulations. The paper reviews the E.U. political process aimed at improving the Community's targets for air quality that led to the joint publication of the Emissions and Fuel Directives in 1998 and their later up-dated versions. It further explains how the standardization contributed to support the E.U. policy, by up-dating the existing EN 228 (Unleaded Gasoline) and EN 590 (Diesel Fuel) standards and by developing new standards such as EN 14274 on Fuel Quality Monitoring and EN 14214 on Biofuels. Lastly, the paper reviews car manufacturer ways to meet 2005 and beyond emissions limits and proposes new fuels parameters such as particulate contamination, gasoline and diesel fuel deposit control capability and anti-corrosion performance of diesel fuel, to be included in further developments of standards and directives.