Enterprise and Industry 

Directorate-General

Agnieszka Kozakiewicz & Nikolaus Steininger

Automotive Industry Unit (F1)

Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General

European Commission

European Commission

The Regulatory Approach to MACs in 

the European Union

SAE Automotive Refrigerant and System Efficiency Symposium

Scottsdale, Arizona, 13 - 15 July 2010
MACs – EU Policies

Two sources of greenhouse gas emissions:

1) Direct greenhouse gas emissions from MACs 

(refrigerants)

2) Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from MACs 

(increase of fuel consumption / CO2 emissions)
MACs direct emissions - regulatory acts

3 legal acts

1) Directive 2006/40/EC relating to emissions from 

air-conditioning systems in motor vehicles

2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 706/2007 laying 

down administrative provisions for the EC typeapproval of vehicles, and a harmonised test for 

measuring leakages from certain air conditioning 

systems 

3) Commission Directive 2007/37/EC amending 

Annexes I and III to Council Directive 70/156/EEC 
MACs direct emissions – control of leakage

1

st STEP

Control of leakage of certain fluorinated greenhouse gases 

with a global warming potential (GWP) > 150 in MACs

MANDATORY as from:

21 June 2008 for new types of vehicles

21 June 2009 for all new vehicles
MACs direct emissions – phase-out

2

nd STEP

The prohibition of MACs using F-Gases with GWP>150 

as from:

1 January 2011 for new types of vehicles

1 January 2017 for all new vehicles
MACs direct emissions – dates

 Dates for the control of leakage (2008/2009) and for the 

phase-out of MACs using F-Gases with GWP>150 

(2011/2017) are set in the legislation adopted by the 

European Parliament and the Council and therefore existing 

binding law 

 Sole power of launching legal amendments lies with the 

European Commission (“right of initiative”)

 The European Commission has no intention to propose a 

change of these dates
MAC direct emissions -

Training programmes for personnel

Regulation (EC) No 842/2006

 F-gases (also in mobile equipment) shall, to the extent that 

it is technically feasible and does not entail disproportionate 

cost, be recovered by appropriately qualified personnel, to 

ensure their recycling, reclamation or destruction 

 Rules on appropriate qualification of personnel recovering 

F-gases from MACs established by Commission Regulation 

(EC) No 307/2008 of 2 April 2008

 Minimum requirements for training programmes of 

personnel

 Conditions for mutual recognition
MAC indirect emissions - CO2 Communication

Communication from the Commission (7.02.2007) on the review of the 

Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from cars

Average new car fleet will have to reduce emissions to no more than 130 g/km

CO2 through powertrain technology (that is relevant for emissions on the test 

cycle)

Additional 10 g/km by other technological improvements and increased use of bio-fuels

These complementary measures include efficiency improvements for certain vehicle aspects 

with a high impact on CO2 emissions:

- Efficiency requirements for air-conditioning systems

- Tyre pressure monitoring systems

- Low rolling resistance tyres

- Gear shift indicators

- Mandatory fuel efficiency targets for light commercial vehicles (vans)
MAC indirect emissions - CO2 Strategy

1

st step

 Regulation 443/2009/EC setting emission performance standards for 

new passenger cars as part of the Community's integrated approach to 

reduce CO 2 emissions from light-duty vehicles published on 23 April 

2009

This Regulation implements part of the integrated approach by 

establishing emission performance standards for new passenger cars

Next steps

Complementary measures
MAC indirect emissions - Test Procedure

Test procedure – physical (and virtual?) testing

 Draft MAC test procedure currently being developed

 Implementation as part of existing CO2 measurement 

procedures

 Minimum MAC performance requirements possible 

at a later stage

 The enforcement of the legislation to attain the reduction of 

the 10g/km of CO2 emission target by different administrative

measures
MAC indirect emissions - Test Procedure

Test procedure – physical (and virtual?) testing

 Draft MAC test procedure currently being developed

 Implementation as part of existing CO2 measurement 

procedures

 Minimum MAC performance requirements possible 

at a later stage

 The enforcement of the legislation to attain the reduction of 

the 10g/km of CO2 emission target by different administrative

measures
MAC indirect emissions - Test Procedure

 Cost-efficient

 Should incentivise reduction of emissions resulting from MAC use in real 

driving:

 No “academic” exercise trying to provide the best possible accuracy 

for environmental impact of MAC use

 But designed such that technical measures reducing/not-reducing 

“MAC emissions” established by the test procedure reduce/do-notreduce “MAC emissions” in real driving

 Suitability for “virtual testing”, which may be developed in parallel or at 

a latter stage (i.e. availability of virtual testing is no condition for future 

legislation!)

 Assessment of the whole vehicle, including the impact of non-MAC 

components such as glazing or insulation 
MAC indirect emissions - Test Procedure

 Consortium of contractors led by TNO, including partners like TUG and 

the JRC 

 Wide participation of stakeholders: Member State experts, vehicle 

manufacturers, relevant suppliers, consumer organisations (automobile 

clubs etc.),...

 Draft MAC test procedure should be available by August 2010

 Detailed state of play of test procedure to be presented separately
Thank you!

Thank you for your attention! 

For MAC direct emission regulatory measures: Agnieszka.Kozakiewicz@ec.europa.eu

For MAC indirect emission regulatory measures: Nikolaus.Steininger@ec.europa.eu

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/automotive/environment/macs/index_en.htm