Beijing has no plans to impose vehicle emission fees in 2009, Du Shaozhong, deputy-director of the city's environmental protection bureau said on Sunday.

Du made the announcement in response to rumors from local media about possible fees on vehicle emissions.

He said that the Ministry of Environmental Protection had been levying fees for the discharge of water, air and noise pollution, but it had yet to issue a policy on vehicle emissions.

The Beijing Times ran a story on Saturday declaring that Beijing would soon start levying vehicle discharge fees.

"We usually follow the state policies on pollutant discharge fees," said Du. "Beijing had suggested tightening the management on vehicle tail gas after the Beijing Olympics. But relevant state departments are still doing research on the policy."

He said the city has made many efforts to reduce the air pollution caused by vehicles. Among a series of actions, 576 yellow-tagged cars, which refer to vehicles with a higher volume of pollutant discharge than the state standard for urban area, were removed from Beijing before the Spring Festival.

Starting Jan. 1, all the vehicles with yellow tags -- except for those, such as garbage and cargo trucks -- will not be allowed within the Fifth Ring Road. After Oct. 1, they won't be permitted within the Sixth Ring Road, Du said.

"We should approach all forms of fee collection with care because the government has always been trying to abolish redundant fees which burden the people," a commentary in the Beijing Youth Daily said Sunday.

The emissions fee could well be covered by fuel taxes, since the consumption of fuel usually decides how much pollutant a vehicle will discharge, according to the commentary.

Environmental departments have carried out pilot programs on vehicle emission fees in some cities. In 1998, eastern Hangzhou City, central Zhengzhou City and northeastern Jilin City began to collect such fees, with 300 yuan (about 44 U.S. dollars) a year for small-sized cars, and 500 yuan for middle-sized vehicles. However, the fee was canceled in June 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2009)