Directive 1999/52 - Adaptation of to technical progress Council Directive 96/96/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers - Main contents

official title

Avis juridique important

|

Commission Directive 1999/52/EC of 26 May 1999 adapting to technical progress Council Directive 96/96/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers (Text with EEA relevance)

Official Journal L 142 , 05/06/1999 P. 0026 - 0028

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 1999/52/EC

of 26 May 1999

adapting to technical progress Council Directive 96/96/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 96/96/EC of 20 December 1996 and Article 7(2) thereof on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers(1),

• (1) 

  Whereas the first auto-oil programme(2) identified the standard of motor vehicles' maintenance as a key constituent in traffic's effect on air quality;

• (2) 

  Whereas Section 8.2 of Annex II Directive 96/96/EC to specifies the tests to be carried out at periodic inspections to check that vehicles are properly maintained;

• (3) 

  Whereas Section 8.2.2 of Annex II Council Directive 92/55/EEC(3) to specifies that, from 1 January 1996, diesel vehicles need to be tested for the opacity of the generated exhaust smoke during a transient, "free acceleration" engine test where the engine is accelerated against its own inertia;

• (4) 

  Whereas, this Directive establishes a technical adaptation that will improve the performance of roadworthiness testing of diesel engined vehicle emissions;

• (5) 

  Whereas, further work needs to be done in the field of developing alternative test procedures to check the maintenance conditions of diesel engined vehicles, particularly concerning particulates and NOx;

• (6) 

  Whereas, the provisions of this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Adaptation to Technical Progress of the Directive on Motor Vehicle Roadworthiness testing established under Article 8 of Directive 96/96/EC,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Directive 96/96/EC is modified as follows:

Annex II, point 8.2.2 is replaced by the following: "8.2.2. Motor vehicles equipped with compression ignition (diesel) engines:

(a) Exhaust gas opacity to be measured during free acceleration (no load from idle up to cut-off speed) with gear lever in neutral and clutch engaged.

(b) Vehicle preconditioning:

• 1. 

  Vehicles may be tested without preconditioning although for safety reasons checks should be made that the engine is warm and in a satisfactory mechanical condition.

• 2. 

  Except as specified in subparagraph (d)(5), no vehicle will be failed unless it has been preconditioned according to the following requirements.

• 3. 

  Engine shall be fully warm, for instance the engine oil temperature measured by a probe in the oil level dipstick tube to be at least 80° C, or normal operating temperature if lower, or the engine block temperature measured by the level of infrared radiation to be at least an equivalent temperature. If, owing to vehicle configuration, this measurement is impractical, the establishment of the engine's normal operating temperature may be made by other means, for example by the operation of the engine cooling fan.

• 4. 

  Exhaust system shall be purged by at least three free acceleration cycles or by an equivalent method.

(c) Test procedure:

• 1. 

  Visual inspection of the relevant parts of the motor vehicle's emission system to check that there are no leaks.

• 2. 

  Engine, and any turbocharger fitted, to be at idle before the start of each free acceleration cycle. For heavy-duty diesels, this means waiting for at...

This text has been adopted from EUR-Lex.

This page is also available in a full version containing the legal context, de Europese rechtsgrond, other dossiers related to the dossier at hand and the related cases of the European Court of Justice.