Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on action to be taken against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants by engines intended to power agricultural or forestry tractors and amending Council Directive 74/150/EEC'
Date: 1999-01-27
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: ESC opinion, engine, gas, pollutant, pollution control measures, tractor

12.4.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 101/13

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a European Parliament
and Council Directive on action to be taken against the emission of gaseous and particulate
pollutants by engines intended to power agricultural or forestry tractors and amending
Council Directive 74/150/EEC’ (1)

(1999/C 101/03)

On 23 October 1998 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 100a of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned
proposal.

The Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 19 January 1999. The
rapporteur was Mr Bagliano.

At its 360th plenary session (meeting of 27 January 1999), the Economic and Social Committee
adopted the following opinion by 97 votes to one with four abstentions.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
This proposal follows on from the undertaking
of the European Parliament and Council, expressed in
recital 6 of Directive 97/68/EC on the approximation of
the laws of the Member States relating to measures
against the emission of gaseous and particulate pol-
lutants from internal combustion engines to be installed
in non-road mobile machinery (2).

1.2.

The recital reads as follows:

‘emissions control legislation on agricultural and
forestry tractor engines, ensuring a level of environ-
mental protection equivalent to the level established
pursuant to this Directive, with standards and
requirements fully consistent with it, should be
introduced as soon as possible’.

1.3.
The ‘action to be taken against the emission of
gaseous and particulate pollutants by engines intended
to power agricultural or forestry tractors’, as set out in
the present draft directive, comes under the EEC
type-approval procedure for tractors contained in frame-
work Directive 74/150/EEC and 22 separate directives.

1.4.
Among these 22 separate directives, Directive
77/537/EEC — for which provision is made in Annex II
of the framework directive — concerns the pollution
caused by diesel engines for use in agricultural or forestry
tractors, but deals only with the opacity of exhaust
gases.

The present draft directive now provides further
measures concerning, in particular, physical and chemi-
cal emissions, i.e. ‘... gaseous pollutants (carbon monox-
ide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides) and polluting
particulates’ (Annex I, point 1.2).

(1) OJ C 303, 2.10.1998, p. 9.
(2) ESC opinion: OJ C 153 of 28.5.1996.

1.5.
Framework Directive 74/150/EEC must there-
fore be amended, so that its Annex II covers these new
rules as well.

2. The draft directive

The draft directive’s

2.1.
is Treaty
Article 100a, as it falls within the scope of measures ‘for
the approximation of the provisions laid down by law’
in Member States, in this case relating to type-approval
of agricultural or forestry tractors.

legal basis

2.2.
The draft directive extends the test procedures
and limit values for gaseous pollutants and polluting
particulates laid down in Directive 97/68/EC for non-
road mobile machinery to agricultural and forestry
tractors.

The timetable (Article 4) establishes that the

2.3.
Member States:

— shall bring into force the necessary provisions by

31 December 2000;

— shall apply these provisions from 1 October 2001;

— may not, from 1 January 2001, refuse to grant EC
type-approval if the pollutants emitted meet the
requirements of the directive;

— may no longer, from 1 October 2001, grant EC
type-approval if the pollutants emitted do not meet
the requirements of the directive;

— shall, from 1 October 2003, prohibit the registration
of tractors whose engines do not comply with the
directive.

2.4.
Any further reductions in limit values by the end
of 2006 may only be decided on the basis of appropriate
‘studies and research to be conducted into existing and
technological potential and into the
foreseeable

C 101/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

12.4.1999

cost-effectiveness of the options,
in order to allow
production on an industrial scale of agricultural or
forestry tractors that are capable of meeting these more
stringent limits’.

2.5. Member States may provide tax incentives to
promote the production of engines complying with the
directive.

3. Comments

3.1.
The Committee welcomes the draft directive,
which lays down the same test requirements for the
type-approval of motors and tractors as those already
adopted for non-road mobile machinery, together with
the corresponding emission limit values, so as to ‘ensure
an equivalent level of environmental protection’.

3.2. Timetable

In principle, the Committee takes a realistic approach
to timetables and deadlines for the entry into force and
application of provisions, geared to assessing their
practicality. In this case there is a logical link with
Directive 97/68 (non-road mobile machinery) to which
the Annexes refer explicitly. Here, the Committee
would simply urge the Commission to ensure that its
interpretation is clear and accurate, so as to avoid
deadlines overlapping.

3.3. Engine marking

The opinion on Directive 97/68/EC (non-road mobile
machinery) already pointed to a problem in this regard,

Brussels, 27 January 1999.

recommending that it ‘be brought more clearly into line
with actual needs’ (point 4.6). The same applies to the
present draft directive concerning agricultural tractor
engines. The obligation to place the additional mark ‘on
the topside of the engine’ (Annex I, Appendix 3, point
3) would not ensure direct visibility in practice, thereby
negating the original aim of the mark, which is to back
up the main mark. The Committee therefore proposes
that the words ‘the topside’ be deleted.

Alternatively, placing a label on the side window or
door of the vehicle might be considered.

3.4. Fuel

It follows logically from the draft directive’s reference
to Directive 97/68/EC that the reference fuel — to be
used for gaseous emission tests — should be that
specified in Annex IV of the directive on non-road
mobile machinery. This fuel was specially developed for
this type of machinery.

It should, however, be borne in mind that agricultural
tractors are also subject to the provisions of Directive
77/537/EEC on smoke emissions (see point 1.4 above),
and Annex V stipulates the use of another reference fuel
for checking such emissions. The Committee calls for
this anomaly to be removed as soon as possible by
bringing the reference fuel requirements of the 1977
directive into line with the more up-to-date requirements
under the 1997 non-road mobile machinery directive
(which sets the date as 1 January 2001).

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI