The
European Parliament on April 19 formally voted in favour of the Commission’s
proposal for a fully overhauled type-approval framework.
“One
important complaint we heard about Dieselgate was that the EU failed to act. In
reality. our margin to manoeuvre was limited,” Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said. “We now agreed
on a fundamental reform that gives the Commission the power to make sure
manufacturers will no longer get away with cheating. The new rules will give us
cleaner cars on our way to zero emissions and safer cars for the roll-out of
autonomous driving,” she added.
The new framework
will raise the quality level and independence of vehicle type-approval and
testing, increase the number of checks on cars that are already on the EU
market, and strengthen the overall system with formal European oversight.
After its
formal adoption in Council and later publication in the Official Journal, the
regulation will become mandatory as of September 1, 2020, for all new vehicle
models.
The new
rules go hand-in-hand with other Commission initiatives such as the proposal
for a new deal for consumers, which in a Dieselgate-type scenario – when German
car maker Volkswagen intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection
diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during laboratory
emissions testing – allows victims of unfair commercial practices to
collectively obtain solutions through representative action. In its efforts to
bring down emissions from vehicles, the Commission has introduced new and
improved car emissions tests that became mandatory in September 2017.
The Commission
said the EC recently held a public consultation on its proposal to further
improve these tests. This proposal will be voted on in the Technical Committee
on Motor Vehicles (TCMV) in the coming weeks.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/eu-parliament-gives-green-light-tighten-rules-cleaner-cars/