Ecology, EU – Baltic States, Transport

In December 2013, the Commission adopted a Clean Air Policy Package consisting of new air quality objectives for the period up to 2030, a revised National Emission Ceilings Directive with stricter national emission ceilings for the six main pollutants (SO₂, NOx, non-methane VOCs, NH_3, PM2.5 and CH₄), and a proposal for a new Directive to reduce pollution from medium-sized combustion installations.

The local air quality limits which may not be exceeded are set under the Ambient Air Quality Directives. These Directives address three main pollutants:

= particulate matter (PM10) originating from emissions from industry,

= traffic and domestic heating, and

= sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Infringement procedures in this area are about the exceeding limit values which are measured at the monitoring stations in each EU member state and appropriate measures to comply with these limit values.

The EU Framework Directive requires EU member states to take all the necessary measures to ensure that vehicles conform to their type-approval and EU states other than the state which granted the type-approval can do their own tests if they feel that here is a breach of the legislation (this Directive’s article 30 is presented in annex below). If an EU state demonstrates that there is a problem, it may ask another EU state which granted the type-approval to take corrective measures.

In accordance with type-approval legislation, vehicles are subject to checks on conformity of production and also to measures to ensure in-service conformity. Conformity of production tests are carried out on samples of freshly produced vehicles and ensure that their emissions values are in-line with the ones measured at type-approval. In-service conformity tests are carried out on vehicles that have been in use for a certain number of kilometers or years to ensure that they still have a pollution performance that is within a certain margin of the type-approval values. The procedure used for both tests is the same laboratory test that was done for type-approval.

Market surveillance by the Commission and the member states

The Commission can take actions against non-compliant and unsafe products on clarifying and strengthening the recall system and the exchange of information among type-approval authorities, including by requiring EU member states to organise and carry out market surveillance and controls of vehicles entering the market and also strengthening the safeguard and recall provisions, including more power for the Commission to intervene and decide on the remedial measures taken by the EU member states.

These measures are included in a proposal for revision of the general type-approval framework that the Commission will adopt by the end of 2015.

The new market surveillance rules will clarify the responsibilities of economic operators and streamline the procedures for co-operation and information exchange between the EU states.

Commission introduced RDE testing

Some five years ago it became clear that the test procedure set out in Regulation 715/2007/EC and its implementing legislation was not reflecting real driving emissions of vehicles. Thus, the European Commission decided in 2010 to address this situation by complementing the current laboratory test with a real-driving test procedure, which should be able to capture the wide range of driving conditions encountered on the road.

A "real-driving emissions of light duty vehicles" working group composed by industry stakeholders and EU member states representatives was set up to develop a test procedure to directly assess the regulated emissions of light duty vehicles under real driving conditions.

In the course of the work of the working group, two draft procedures were investigated: a randomised test cycle and the use of portable emission measurements systems (PEMS). Following an in-depth analysis of both approaches, on-road testing with a portable device was judged to better cover the wide range of driving and ambient conditions than laboratory test cycles.

As soon as the new procedure was ready from the technical point of view, the Commission proposed draft legislation which was voted in May 2015 by the respective regulatory committee (TCMV).

Differences in regulating emission limits and testing procedures in the EU and US

In the US, the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires every engine and motor vehicle to meet a set of emission standards and conformity requirements. Anyone wishing to sell an engine or vehicle within the United States must demonstrate compliance with the CAA and all applicable EPA regulations.

Today, in the EU as well as in the US, vehicles are being tested on a chassis dynamometer in the lab according to well-described driving patterns (regulatory test cycles) for compliance with regulatory emission limits. These test cycles are different in the EU and US.

In the US there are several test cycles while in the EU there is only one. However, the differences in the test cycles are not relevant, since any laboratory test cycle can be defeated. As for the emission limits for NOx, in the US it is 50mg per mile, while in the EU it is of 80mg per km but also this difference is not relevant for the existing case.

Introduction of the RDE procedure is important, as it would allow authorities to detect the use of defeat devices.

CO2 emissions’ limits

Unlike pollutants, at low concentrations CO2 emissions are not directly harmful to our health, but cause climate change. That is why the EU is reducing its CO2 emissions, including from transport. In contrast to pollutant emissions, for CO2 emissions there are no maximum limits per vehicle.

But CO2 emissions are monitored according to the EU Regulations 443/2009 and 510/2011 establishing CO2 performance standards for cars and vans and emission reduction targets. By 2021, the fleet average to be achieved by all new cars is 95 grams of CO2 per km. This means a fuel consumption of around 4.1 l/100 km of petrol or 3.6 l/100 km of diesel. For vans, the target is 147 grams of CO2 per km, corresponding to around 5.5 l/100 km of diesel.

To help drivers choose new cars with low fuel consumption, cars have a label showing their test cycle fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions. If defeat devices were used to influence test CO2 emissions, it is likely the relative size of their impact would be lower than for pollutant emissions. For CO2 emissions the laboratory test procedure should improve with the introduction of the "Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure".

Informing citizens about the consequences of air pollution and car emissions

EU legislation foresees that the EU member states must ensure that up-to-date information on ambient concentrations of the different pollutants is routinely made available to the public. When information or alert thresholds are exceeded, EU states need to inform the public about the exceeding values and the actions that are eventually taken.

Citizens will also be informed of the real-world vehicle emissions measured according to the new test cycle (from the Euro 6 deadlines onwards). A number of sources exist at EU level that provides information to the public: several important databases concerning air quality are managed by the European Environment Agency (EEA), including the AirBase database, and the database on ozone. The Ambient Air Quality Portal contains a collection of documents delivered by each country, concerning various topics, including air quality.

Reference: Commission press release “FAQ - Air pollutant emissions standards”, Brussels, 25 September 2015.

In: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release

Annex

Directive 2007/46/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 5 September 2007 establishing a framework for the approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles (so-called, Framework Directive)

Article 30

Vehicles, systems, components or separate technical units not in conformity with the approved type

1.   If a Member State which has granted an EC type-approval finds that new vehicles, systems, components or separate technical units accompanied by a certificate of conformity or bearing an approval mark do not conform to the type it has approved, it shall take the necessary measures, including, where necessary, the withdrawal of type-approval, to ensure that production vehicles, systems, components or separate technical units, as the case may be, are brought into conformity with the approved type. The approval authority of that Member State shall advise the approval authorities of the other Member States of the measures taken.

2.   For the purposes of paragraph 1, deviations from the particulars in the EC type-approval certificate or the information package shall be deemed to constitute failure to conform to the approved type.

A vehicle shall not be deemed to deviate from the approved type where tolerances are permitted by the relevant regulatory acts and those tolerances are respected.

3.   If a Member State demonstrates that new vehicles, components or separate technical units accompanied by a certificate of conformity or bearing an approval mark do not conform to the approved type, it may ask the Member State which granted the EC type-approval to verify that vehicles, systems, components or separate technical units in production continue to conform to the approved type. On receipt of such a request, the Member State concerned shall take the requisite action as soon as possible and in any case within six months of the date of the request.

4.   The approval authority shall request the Member State which granted the system, component, separate technical unit or incomplete vehicle type-approval to take the necessary action to ensure that vehicles in production are brought back into conformity with the approved type in the following cases:

(a) in relation to an EC vehicle type-approval, where the non-conformity of a vehicle is attributable exclusively to the non-conformity of a system, component or separate technical unit;

(b) in relation to a multi-stage type-approval, where the non-conformity of a completed vehicle is attributable exclusively to the non-conformity of a system, component or separate technical unit being part of the incomplete vehicle, or of the incomplete vehicle itself.

On receipt of such a request, the Member State concerned shall take the requisite action, if necessary in conjunction with the Member State making the request, as soon as possible and in any case within six months of the date of the request. Where a failure to conform is established, the approval authority of the Member State which granted the system, component or separate technical unit EC type-approval or the approval of the incomplete vehicle shall take the measures set out in paragraph 1.

5.   The approval authorities shall inform each other within 20 working days of any withdrawal of EC type-approval and of the reasons therefore.

6.   If the Member State that granted EC type-approval disputes the failure to conform notified to it, the Member States concerned shall endeavour to settle the dispute. The Commission shall be kept informed and, where necessary, shall hold appropriate consultations with a view to reaching a settlement.

Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/