China will introduce new motor vehicle emission standards that will cut automobile pollutants by 30 percent in 2007, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has said.

The new standards were equivalent to the Euro III standards in the European Union, Zhao Yingmin, head of SEPA's department of science, technology and standards told Xinhua.

A more stringent standard, equivalent to Euro IV will take effect in 2010, he said.

China is the world's third largest automobile producer, with an annual production of more than five million. Thirty million vehicles run on Chinese roads.

In major cities like Beijing, motor vehicles have become the major source of air pollution.

China began to enforce Euro II emission standards nationwide in September 2003.

However, major cities acted much earlier with Beijing enforcing Euro II standards in 2002 and Shanghai in March 2003.

The enforcement of the new standards would produce a major environmental dividend and raise the international competitive edge of Chinese auto producers by forcing them to upgrade technologies, Zhao said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2006)