The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted a report drafted by Matthias GROOTE (PES, DE) and made amendments to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on type-approval of motor vehicles and engines with respect to emissions from heavy duty vehicles (Euro VI) and on access to vehicle repair and maintenance information.
The main amendments– made in 1st reading of the codecision procedure – are as follows:
Scope: according to MEPs, This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007, which allows approvals granted to vehicle types with a reference mass ≤ 2 610 kg to be extended, under specific conditions, to similar vehicle types with a reference mass ≤ 2 840 kg.
Engine system: compliance with Euro VI must be demonstrated for the whole 'engine system'. The engine system is the optimum interplay between the engine, the exhaust after treatment system and additional control elements. MEPs propose to amend the definition of 'engine' accordingly or replace it by a definition of 'engine system'. They have also introduced the definition of 'exhaust after-treatment system'.
On-board diagnostic system or “OBD system”: given that the OBD system does not actually control emissions, MEPs have specified the definition. It shall mean a system on board a vehicle or engine which has the capability of detecting malfunctions, and, if applicable, of indicating their occurrence by means of an alert system, of identifying the likely area of malfunction by means of information stored in computer memory, and of communicating that information off-board.
Vehicle repair and maintenance information: MEPs consider it essential to develop a common European standard for the format of on-board diagnostic information and vehicle repair and maintenance information. According to them, manufacturers shall provide a standardised, secure, remote facility to enable accredited independent repairers to complete operations which involve access to the vehicle security system.
Tests and requirements: the implementing measures should be instituted by 1 April 2009 so that manufacturers and subcontractors have all the information they need in order to re-equip vehicles in accordance with the rules in time. These measures shall concern tailpipe emissions, including test cycles, the use of portable emissions measurement systems for verifying the actual in-use emissions, verifying and limiting off cycle emissions in order to comply with the emission limits specified in Annex I, establishment of limits for particle number while retaining the existing ambitious environmental requirements, emissions at idling speed, smoke opacity and correct functioning and regeneration of pollution control devices. If the Commission concludes that it is appropriate to regulate the emissions of additional pollutants, it shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal for amending the present Regulation.
Access to information from the OBD system and to information concerning repairs and maintenance of the vehicle: in the case of multi-stage type approval, the manufacturer responsible for the type approval in question shall also be responsible for communicating repair information relating to the particular stage to both the final manufacturer and independent operators. The final manufacturer shall be responsible for communicating information about the whole vehicle to independent operators. Charges for access time shall be levied only once.
On-board diagnostic, repair and maintenance information shall accord with the CEN norm as soon as the latter is adopted. Until the adoption of this new standard format by CEN, on-board diagnostic, repair and maintenance information for vehicles shall be submitted in an easy-to-read and non-discriminatory form. The information shall be published on the websites of the manufacturers or, if this is impossible because of the nature of the information, in another appropriate form. The Commission shall take into account current information technology, forthcoming vehicle technology, existing International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards and the possibility of a worldwide ISO standard.
Timetable for the application of the reception of vehicles and their engines: MEPs consider that there should be an interval of 48 months between the publication of the implementing provisions and the entry into force of the new emissions standards to ensure that manufacturers and distributors are in possession of all the information they need to apply the requisite technological advances to new vehicles.
Financial incentives: MEPs deleted the measures which allowed individual Member States to provide for financial incentives which is against the principles of the Single Market and could be anti-competitive.
Limit value for NOx: MEPs foresee a marginal increase in NOx limit value allows technical solutions that will reduce the CO2 by as much as 50%. This amendment provides a win-win solution on both air pollutants and greenhouse gases by delivering a better trade-off between NOx and CO2 emissions
Retrofitting equipment: lastly, the report underlines that Member States should draw up ambitious measures to ensure retrofitting of existing heavy duty vehicles in line with Euro VI standards. They should regularly monitor the rates of vehicle renewal and retrofitting, intensify their efforts to reduce the rate of more polluting vehicles and report the results every year to the Commission.