6) and access to information - Main contents

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier	COM(2019)208 - Amending Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 on type approval motor vehicles WRT emissions from light passenger and commercial ...
document	COM(2019)208
date	June 14, 2019

(1) Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council ¹⁴ is one of the separate regulatory acts under the type-approval framework laid down by Directive 2007/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ¹⁵ .

(2) Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 requires new light-duty vehicles to comply with certain emission limits (Euro 5 and Euro 6 standards) and lays down additional requirements on access to vehicle repair and maintenance information. The specific technical provisions necessary to implement that Regulation were set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 ¹⁶ and subsequently, in Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1151 ¹⁷ .

(3) The type-approval requirements relating to emissions from motor vehicles have been gradually and significantly tightened through the introduction and subsequent revision of Euro standards. While vehicles in general have delivered substantial emission reductions across the range of regulated pollutants, this was not the case for NOx emissions from diesel engines or particles for gasoline direct injection engines, installed in particular in light-duty vehicles. Actions for correcting this situation are therefore needed.

(4) The Commission performed a detailed analysis of the procedures, tests and requirements for type approval that are set out in Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 on the basis of own research and external information and found that the emissions generated by real driving on the road of Euro 5 or Euro 6 vehicles substantially exceed the emissions measured on the regulatory New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), in particular with respect to NOx emissions of diesel vehicles.

(5) As a result, the Commission developed a new methodology for testing vehicle emissions in real-driving conditions, the real-driving emissions (RDE) test procedure. The RDE test procedure was introduced by Commission Regulations (EU) 2016/427 ¹⁸ and (EU) 2016/646 ¹⁹ , subsequently taken over into Regulation (EU) 2017/1151 and further improved by Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1154 ²⁰ .

(6) Regulation (EU) 2016/646 ²¹ introduced the dates of application of the RDE test procedure, as well as the compliance criteria for RDE. For that purpose, pollutant-specific conformity factors were used to take account of statistical and technical uncertainties of the measurements conducted by means of Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS).

(7) On 13 December 2018, the General Court delivered judgment in Joined Cases T-339/16, T-352/16 and T-391/16 ²² concerning an action for annulment of Regulation (EU) 2016/646. The General Court annulled the part of Regulation (EU) 2016/646 which established the conformity factors used to assess compliance of RDE test results with the emission limits laid down in Regulation (EC) No 715/2007. The Court found that only the legislator could introduce those conformity factors as they touched upon an essential element of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007.

(8) The General Court did not question the technical justification of the conformity factors. Therefore, and given that at the current stage of technological development there is still a discrepancy between emissions measured in real driving and those measured in a laboratory, it is appropriate to introduce the conformity factors into Regulation (EC) No 715/2007.

(9) In order to allow manufacturers to comply with the Euro 6 emission limits in the context of RDE test procedure, the compliance criteria for RDE should be introduced in two steps. During the first step, upon the request of the manufacturer, a temporary conformity factor should apply, while as a second step only the final conformity factor should be used. The Commission should keep under review the final conformity factors in light of technical progress.

(10) The Treaty of Lisbon introduced the possibility for the legislator to delegate power to the Commission to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of a legislative act. The measures which can be covered by delegations of powers, as referred to in Article 290(1) TFEU, correspond in principle to those covered by the regulatory procedure with scrutiny established by Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC ²³ . It is therefore necessary to adapt to Article 290 TFEU the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 which provide for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.

(11) In order to contribute to the achievement of the Union’s air quality objectives and to reduce vehicle emissions, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFUE) should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the detailed rules on the specific procedures, tests and requirements for type approval. That delegation should include supplementing Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 by such revised rules as well as the test cycles used to measure emissions; the requirements for the implementation of the prohibition on the use of defeat devices that reduce the effectiveness of emission control systems; the measures necessary for the implementation of the obligation of a manufacturer to provide unrestricted and standardised access to vehicle repair and maintenance information; the adoption of a revised measurement procedure for particulates. The delegation should further include amending Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 for the purposes of revising the final conformity factors downwards to reflect technical progress in PEMS and recalibrating the particulate mass based limit values and introducing particle number based limit values. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations are conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council should receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically should have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(12) To ensure continuity of implementation in light of technical progress, regulatory procedures with scrutiny pending at the time of the entry into force of this Regulation on which the committee has already delivered its opinion should be completed in accordance with Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(13) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Article 4(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) No 715/2007, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ²⁴ .

(14) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to lay down rules on emissions from motor vehicles in order to contribute to the achievement of the basic air quality objectives, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States as motor vehicles with a valid type approval may be marketed across national boundaries but can rather, by reason of the scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(15) Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 should therefore be amended accordingly,