Tighter regulations on the exhaust emissions of lorries and trucks has been introduced in European parliament, it has been reported.
The introduction of the Euro VI regulation by 2014 will see new air pollution limits introduced for those vehicles manufactured and sold within Europe from 2012-13.
Applauding the move were environmental groups, such as the European Environmental Bureau and Transport and Environment (T&E).
Director of T&E Jos Dings commented: "Lorries have a nasty habit of looking a lot cleaner in the testing laboratory than in the real world.
"Close monitoring will be needed to ensure nitrogen oxides and other harmful emissions really go down," he added.
In a similar move, California this week introduced new regulations aimed to reduce the amount of harmful emissions released by diesel-consuming vehicles.