A NEW logo has been launched to recognise impending changes to Australia's clean air legislation.
Chairman of the Blue Sky Alliance Gary Fooks told a Honda engines field day at Coldstream, Vic, emissions standards for non-road engines were likely to be introduced in about 12 months' time.
The logo would be used to promote the new emissions standards, which would be "the biggest change in people's lifetime", Mr Fooks said.
But he said farmers and graziers need have nothing to fear, although they were one of the largest users of small engines in pumps, pressure washers, chain saws and farm equipment..
"Most of the agricultural sector have bought the longer-lasting, quality engines and a lot of them are four-strokes in the bigger size and quality chainsaws, for example," he said.
"Nothing you own now will be banned; we don't want to scare people."
He said the new logo marking products as meeting proposed Australian Emissions Standards would give confidence to buyers.
"It tells people these products meet the new standards.
"It's a voluntary thing at the moment but already half the people are buying a compliant product without even knowing it.
"Fifty per cent of what we buy in Australia already meets the emissions standards
The Blue Sky Alliance is a group of manufacturers and distributors of non-road engine products, who believed Australians deserved to have clean air, which is why the supported the move to low emission engines.
The Blue Sky Alliance had two founders, The Outdoor Power Equipment Association (OPEA) representing manufacturers of outdoor equipment including lawn mowers, chainsaws and generators.
The other was the Australian Marine Engine Council (AMEC) representing manufacturers of marine engines, outboard motors and Personal Watercraft.
Together, the peak bodies represented more than 90 per cent of off road engine sales in Australia, a little over one million engines each year.
"It's the suburban buyer who is buying the cheap and nasty 'use 'em for a couple of years and fall over' lawn mower - they are the ones they will see taken off the market."
The proposed Australia standard mirrors the US standard - the world's toughest.
If adopted it will see the end of all carburettor and EFI two-stroke outboards and mowers.
"What you own now won't be banned and, in fact, dealers won't have a problem with what they have on their shelves and importers will be able to clear their warehouses so it won't be a nasty ban."
Australians bought two million engines in Australia, with 50pc of those being in cars.
"It was tackled in cars a long time ago and now its about to be tackled in small engines - but it's been a long, sad history," Mr Fooks said.
While regulation was introduced in America in 1998, Australia would not have it until 2016.
In July state and federal ministers will decide on the new emissions legislation.
"The other option is self-regulation, which doesn't work, and assuming everything goes smoothly there will be consultation then regulation.
"There will be legislation by the end of this year with a start date six months later."
"I don't think it will be much later than that as we are due for an election and, close to the election, governments sit on their hands and don't like to do things."
It had taken so long to introduce clean-air legislation as the bureaucrats wanted "to make a rowboat into a battleship", Mr Fooks said.
"It never stopped," he said.
