E U Legislation Update
July 2007
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIALOGUE
FIVA works with the industry on the proposals to ban incandescent domestic lightbulbs
Further to the information provided by the June EU Issues Update, FIVA has maintained its dialogue with the European Lamp Companies Federation (ELCF) in preparation for a EU Regulation intended to ban from sale all traditional incandescent domestic lightbulbs from 2015. FIVA has provided ELCF with information on bulbs used by historic vehicles which the Federation will now present to its members in order to find a solution to a potential problem of either a ban on the manufacture of such bulbs or a possibly a reduction in supply as a result of the anticipated regulation. ELCF has indicated its clear willingness to help achieve a solution acceptable to FIVA.INFORMATION
Debate on CO2 emissions plan continues
The environmental organisation Transport and the Environment (T and E), has criticised as too weak the European Parliament Rapporteur’s report (see June 2007 EU issues update) on the Commission’s proposed plan for further CO2 reductions from cars. T and E believes that the car industry can achieve the 120g/km by 2012 - moreover, it wants the limits to be enforceable and for penalties to be imposed on manufacturers exceeding the limits – proposing that they pay €150 per gram over the limit for every car sold.
Meanwhile, the car manufacturers have continued to call for an integrated approach to emission reductions based on engine improvements and the introduction of other measures such as tyre pressure monitors. At a recent Hearing on the issue, a Michelin representative stated that tyre rolling resistance was responsible for up to 20 per cent of CO2 emissions from cars and called for regulatory support to increase the use of low rolling resistance tyres, including a harmonised maximum EU tyre rolling resistance limit. He also suggested that the manufacturers could be awarded a "CO2 bonus" for equipping new vehicles with low resistance tyres as standard.
In parallel, the debate is also focusing on how the system might work in practice, and specifically on how to turn an overall market-wide limit on CO2 emissions into separate model-specific targets for different sized cars. The car industry has said that the calculation should be based on vehicle weight, thereby also removing the incentives for carmakers to produce heavier cars as it would make their targets harder to achieve. But T and E believes that a distinction between large and small cars should be based on a vehicle's "footprint" - the product of its length and width.
European Commission wants stricter emission limits for new trucks and buses
The European Commission has announced its intent to further tighter limits on air pollution emissions from trucks and buses by suggesting four possible scenarios that could be adopted as new Euro VI standards. The Commission wants to make firm proposals by the end of the year which would apply to particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and ammonia from heavy-duty diesel and natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas engines. In two of the four scenarios, achieving the stricter air pollutant limits would actually lead to higher carbon dioxide emissions – and so the Commission is consulting to ascertain whether stakeholders are prepared to pay the extra carbon cost to bring down emissions of the other pollutants. Of these four, one would require a higher rate of cooled exhaust gas recirculation and more efficient selective catalytic reduction, another suggests stricter NOx limit but more lenient PM limit - both would increase CO2 emissions by between two and six per cent and both would add an additional €3000-6000 per vehicle. The other options would be slighter less costly.
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The FIVA Legislation Commission members are: Horst Brüning (Chairman), Tiddo Bresters (the Netherlands), Andrew Burt , (UK), David Davies (UK), Marek Gacek (Poland), Zoltán Gárdos (Hungary), Dage Groop (Finland), Adalberto Gueli (Italy), Peeter Henning (Belgium), Maik Hirschfeld (Germany), David Hurley (UK), Winfried Kallinger (Austria), Jim Krier (Luxembourg), Victor Papadopoulos (Cyprus), Patrick Rollet (France), Zdenek Ruzicka (Czech Republic) and Carla Fiocchi (Secretariat). Andrew Turner of EPPA works with the Committee.