Common Position (EC) No 26/2005 of 21 June 2005 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to emissions from air conditioning systems in motor vehicles and amending Council Directive 70/156/EEC
Date: 2005-06-21
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EC conformity marking, air conditioning, greenhouse gas, harmonisation of standards, motor vehicle, reduction of gas emissions, roadworthiness tests, technical standard, vehicle parts

26.7.2005

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMON POSITION (EC) No 26/2005

adopted by the Council on 21 June 2005

with a view to the adoption of Directive 2005/…/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of … relating to emissions from air conditioning systems in motor vehicles and amending
Council Directive 70/156/EEC

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(3)

(2005/C 183 E/02)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (1),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

of

hydrofluorocarbon-134a

Emissions
(HFC-134a),
which has a global warming potential of 1300, from air
conditioning systems in motor vehicles are of growing
their impact on climate change.
concern because of
Cost-effective and safe alternatives
to hydrofluoro-
carbon-134a (HFC-134a) are expected to be available in
the near future. A review should be carried out to estab-
lish, in the light of progress in potential containment of
emissions from, or replacement of, fluorinated green-
house gases in such systems, whether this Directive
should be extended to other categories of motor vehicle
the provisions concerning the global
and whether
warming potential of these gases should be amended,
taking account of technological and scientific develop-
ments and the need to respect industrial product plan-
ning timescales.

(1)

(2)

The internal market comprises an area without internal
frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons,
services and capital must be ensured, and to that end a
Community type-approval system for motor vehicles is
in place. The technical
the type-
approval of motor vehicles with regard to air condi-
tioning systems should be harmonised to avoid the
adoption of requirements that differ from one Member
State to another and to ensure the proper functioning of
the internal market.

requirements

for

the Kyoto Protocol

A growing number of Member States intend to regulate
the use of air conditioning systems in motor vehicles as
a consequence of Council Decision 2002/358/EC of 25
April 2002 concerning the approval, on behalf of the
European Community, of
to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments there-
under (3). The Decision commits the Community and its
Member States to reduce their aggregate anthropogenic
emissions of greenhouse gases listed in Annex A to the
Kyoto Protocol by 8 % compared to 1990 levels in the
period from 2008 to 2012. The uncoordinated imple-
mentation of
these commitments carries the risk of
creating barriers to the free movement of motor vehicles
in the Community. Therefore it is appropriate to lay
down the requirements to be fulfilled by air conditioning
systems fitted to vehicles in order to be allowed on the
market and to prohibit from a certain date air condi-
tioning systems designed to contain fluorinated green-
house gases with a global warming potential higher than
150.

(1) OJ C 108, 30.4.2004, p. 62.
(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 31 March 2004 (OJ C 103
E, 29.4.2004, p. 600), Council Common Position of 21 June 2005
and Position of the European Parliament of … (not yet published in
the Official Journal).

(3) OJ L 130, 15.5.2002, p. 1.

(4)

(5)

(6)

In order to ensure that the prohibition of certain fluori-
nated greenhouse gases is effective, there is a need to
limit the possibility to retrofit motor vehicles with air
conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated
greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher
than 150 and to prohibit filling air conditioning systems
with such gases.

from air conditioning systems

In order to limit the emissions of certain fluorinated
greenhouse gases
in
motor vehicles it is necessary to establish limit values for
leakage rates and the test procedure for the assessment
of
leakage in air conditioning systems designed to
contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global
warming potential higher than 150 which are fitted to
motor vehicles.

In order to contribute to the fulfilment of the commit-
ments of the Community and its Member States under
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the
Kyoto Protocol and Decision 2002/358/EC, Regulation
(EC) No …/2005 of the European Parliament and of the
Council (4) and this Directive, which both contribute to
the reduction of emissions of
fluorinated greenhouse
gases, should be adopted and published in the Official
Journal of the European Union simultaneously.

(4) See page … of the present Official Journal (reference to the Regu-
lation corresponding to this Directive for simultaneous publication).

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Official Journal of the European Union

26.7.2005

Any manufacturer of vehicles should make available to
the approval authority all relevant technical information
regarding the installed air conditioning systems and the
In the case of air conditioning
gases used in them.
systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse
gases with a global warming potential higher than 150,
the manufacturer should also make available the leakage
rate of these systems.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Subject matter

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down
the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (1).

This Directive is one of the separate directives of the EC
type-approval procedure which was
established by
Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on
the approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their
trailers (2). Consequently, Directive 70/156/EEC should
be amended accordingly.

Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to control
the leakage of the specific fluorinated greenhouse gases
in the air conditioning systems fitted to vehicles and to
prohibit from a certain date air conditioning systems
designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a
global warming potential higher than 150, cannot be
sufficiently achieved by the Member States acting alone
and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of
this Directive, be better achieved at Community level,
in accordance
the Community may adopt measures,
with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5
of
In accordance with the principle of
proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive
does not go beyond what
is necessary in order to
achieve those objectives.

the Treaty.

This Directive lays down the requirements for the EC type-
approval or national type-approval of vehicles as regards emis-
sions from, and the safe functioning of, air conditioning
systems fitted to vehicles. It also lays down provisions on retro-
fitting and refilling of such systems.

Article 2

Scope

The Directive shall apply to motor vehicles of category M1 and
N1 as defined in Annex II to Directive 70/156/EEC. For the
purpose of this Directive, vehicles of category N1 are limited to
those of class I as described in the first table in point 5.3.1.4 of
Annex I to Council Directive 70/220/EEC of 20 March 1970
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating
to measures to be taken against air pollution by emissions from
motor vehicles (4), as inserted by Directive 98/69/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council (5).

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive the following definitions
shall apply:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

‘vehicle’ means any motor vehicle falling within the scope
of this Directive;

‘vehicle type’ means a type as defined in Section B of
Annex II to Directive 70/156/EEC;

‘air conditioning system’ means any system whose main
purpose is to decrease the air temperature and humidity of
the passenger compartment of a vehicle;

system’ means a system where one
‘dual evaporator
evaporator is mounted in the engine compartment and the
other in a different compartment of the vehicle; all other
systems shall be considered ‘single evaporator systems’;

‘fluorinated greenhouse gases’ means hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride
(SF6) as referred to in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol and
preparations containing these substances, but excludes
substances
(EC) No
under
2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 29 June 2000 on substances that deplete the ozone
layer (6);

Regulation

controlled

(11)

In accordance with paragraph 34 of the Interinstitutional
agreement on better law-making (3), Member States are
encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the inter-
ests of the Community, their own tables which will, as
far as possible,
illustrate the correlation between this
Directive and the transposition measures and to make
them public,

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(2) OJ L 42, 23.2.1970, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission

Directive 2004/104/EC (OJ L 337, 13.11.2004, p. 13).

(3) OJ C 321, 31.12.2003, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 76, 6.4.1970, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission

Directive 2003/76/EC (OJ L 206, 15.8.2003, p. 29).

(5) OJ L 350, 28.12.1998, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 244, 29.9.2000, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 2077/2004 (OJ L 359, 4.12.2004, p. 28).

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6.

7.

8.

‘hydrofluorocarbon’ means
compound
consisting of carbon, hydrogen and fluorine, and where no
more than six carbon atoms are contained in the molecule;

organic

an

‘perfluorocarbon’ means an organic compound consisting
of carbon and fluorine only, and where no more than six
carbon atoms are contained in the molecule;

‘global warming potential’ means the climatic warming
potential of a fluorinated greenhouse gas relative to that of
carbon dioxide. The global warming potential
is
calculated in terms of the 100 year warming potential of
one kilogram of a gas relative to one kilogram of CO2. The
relevant GWP figures are those published in the third
assessment report (TAR) adopted by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (‘2001 IPCC GWP values’) (1);

(GWP)

9.

‘preparation’ means a mixture composed of two or more
substances at least one of which is a fluorinated green-
house gas. The total global warming potential (2) of the
preparation shall be determined in accordance with Part 2
of the Annex;

10.

‘retrofitting’ means installing an air conditioning system in
a vehicle after it has been registered.

Article 4

Obligations of the Member States

1. Member States shall grant, as appropriate, EC type-
approval or national type-approval, with regard to emissions
from air conditioning systems, only to vehicle types that satisfy
the requirements of this Directive.

For the purpose of granting whole vehicle type-approval
2.
pursuant to Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 70/156/EEC, Member
States shall ensure that manufacturers supply information on
the type of refrigerant used in air conditioning systems fitted to
new motor vehicles.

3.
For the purpose of type-approval of vehicles fitted with
air conditioning systems designed to contain a fluorinated
greenhouse gas with a global warming potential higher than
150, Member States shall ensure that, in accordance with the
harmonised leakage detection test referred to in Article 7(1),
the leakage rate of such gases shall not exceed the maximum
permissible limits laid down in Article 5.

(1) IPCC Third Assessment Climate Change 2001. A Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/
pub/reports.htm).

(2) For the calculation of the GWP of non-fluorinated greenhouse gases
in preparations, the values published in the First IPCC Assessment
shall apply, see: Climate Change, The IPCC Scientific Assessment, J.T.
Houghton, G.J. Jenkins, J.J. Ephraums (ed.), Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge (UK), 1990.

Article 5

Type-approval

1. With effect from six months from the date of adoption of
a harmonised leakage detection test, Member States may not,
on grounds
from air conditioning
systems:

relating to emissions

(a) refuse,

in respect of a new type of vehicle, to grant EC

type-approval, or national type approval, or

(b) prohibit registration, sale or entry into service of new

vehicles

if the vehicle fitted with an air conditioning system designed to
contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming
potential higher than 150 complies with the requirements of
this Directive.

2. With effect from 12 months from the date of adoption of
a harmonised leakage detection test or 1 January 2007, which-
ever is later, Member States shall no longer grant EC type-
approval or national type-approval for a type of vehicle fitted
with an air conditioning system designed to contain fluorinated
greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than
150, unless the rate of leakage from that system does not
exceed 40 grams of fluorinated greenhouse gases per year for a
single evaporator system, or 60 grams of fluorinated green-
house gases per year for a dual evaporator system.

3. With effect from 24 months from the date of adoption of
a harmonised leakage detection test or 1 January 2008, which-
ever is later, in respect of new vehicles fitted with air condi-
tioning systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse
gases with a global warming potential higher than 150, unless
the rate of leakage from that system does not exceed 40 grams
of fluorinated greenhouse gases per year for a single evaporator
system or 60 grams of fluorinated greenhouse gases per year
for a dual evaporator system, Member States shall:

(a) consider certificates of conformity to be no longer valid for
the purposes of Article 7(1) of Directive 70/156/EEC, and

(b) refuse registration and prohibit sale and entry into service.

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4. With effect from 1 January 2011 Member States shall no
longer grant EC type-approval or national type-approval for a
type of vehicle fitted with an air conditioning system designed
to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming
potential higher than 150.

5. With effect from 1 January 2017, in respect of new vehi-
cles which are fitted with an air conditioning system designed
to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming
potential higher than 150, Member States shall:

(a) consider certificates of conformity to be no longer valid for
the purposes of Article 7(1) of Directive 70/156/EEC, and

(b) refuse registration and prohibit sale and entry into service.

Article 6

Retrofitting and refilling

1. With effect
from 1 January 2011, air conditioning
systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with
a global warming potential higher than 150 shall not be retro-
fitted to vehicles type-approved from that date. With effect
from 1 January 2017, such air conditioning systems shall not
be retrofitted to any vehicles.

Air conditioning systems fitted to vehicles type-approved
2.
on or after 1 January 2011 shall not be filled with fluorinated
greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than
150. With effect from 1 January 2017 air conditioning systems
in all vehicles shall not be filled with fluorinated greenhouse
gases with a global warming potential higher than 150, with
the exception of refilling of air conditioning systems containing
those gases, which have been fitted to vehicles before that date.

(a) the administrative provisions for the EC type-approval of

vehicles; and

(b) a harmonised leakage detection test

for measuring the
leakage rate of fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global
warming potential higher than 150 from air conditioning
systems.

2.
The Commission shall adopt the measures in accordance
with the procedure referred to in Article 13 of Directive
70/156/EEC.

The Commission shall publish these measures in the Offi-

3.
cial Journal of the European Union.

The procedure referred to in paragraph 2 shall apply to

4.
the adoption, where appropriate, of:

(a) measures needed to ensure the safe functioning and proper
servicing of refrigerants in mobile air conditioning systems;

(b) measures relating to the retrofitting of in-use vehicles with
air conditioning systems and the refilling of
in-use air
conditioning systems to the extent not covered by Article
6;

(c) the adaptation of the method for determining the relevant

global warming potential of preparations.

Article 8

Review

3.
Service providers offering service and repair for air condi-
tioning systems shall not fill such equipment with fluorinated
greenhouse gases if an abnormal amount of the refrigerant has
leaked from the system, until the necessary repair has been
completed.

On the basis of progress in potential containment of
1.
emissions from, or replacement of,
fluorinated greenhouse
gases in air conditioning systems fitted to motor vehicles, the
Commission shall examine whether:

Article 7

Implementing measures

— the present legislation should be extended to other cate-
in particular categories M2 and M3 as

gories of vehicles,
well as classes II and III of category N1; and

— Community provisions concerning the global warming
potential of
should be
fluorinated greenhouse gases
amended; any changes should take account of technological
and scientific developments and the need to respect indus-
trial product planning timescales,

1.
By … (*) the Commission shall adopt the measures for
the implementation of Article 4 and Article 5, and in particu-
lar:

and shall publish a report by … (**). Where necessary, it shall
present appropriate legislative proposals.

(*) 12 months after the date of entry into force of this Directive.

(**) Five years after the date of entry into force of this Directive.

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2. Where a fluorinated greenhouse gas with a global
warming potential higher than 150, which is not yet covered
by the IPCC report referred to in Article 3(8), is included in a
future report of the IPCC, the Commission shall assess whether
it is appropriate to amend this Directive in order to include
that gas. If the Commission considers it necessary, it shall, in
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 13 of
Directive 70/156/EEC:

— adopt the necessary measures; and

— define transition periods

for

the application of

these

measures.

In doing so the Commission shall strike a balance between the
need for an appropriate lead time and the risk that the fluori-
nated greenhouse gas poses to the environment.

Article 9

Amendments to Directive 70/156/EEC

Directive 70/156/EEC is hereby amended in accordance with
Part 1 of the Annex to this Directive.

Article 10

Transposition

reference on the occasion of their official publication. The
methods of making such reference shall be laid down by
Member States.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the
text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in
the field covered by this Directive.

Article 11

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following
that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Union.

Article 12

Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

1. Member States shall adopt and publish by … (*) the laws,
regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
with this Directive.

Done at Brussels,

They shall apply those measures from … (**).

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such a

For the European Parliament

The President

…

For the Council

The President

…

(*) 18 months after the entry into force of this Directive.
(**) 18 months and one day after the entry into force of this Directive.

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ANNEX

PART 1

Directive 70/156/EEC is amended as follows:

1.

in Annex IV, Part I, a new item numbered (61), and footnote, is inserted as follows:

‘‘Subject

Directive No

Official Journal
reference

Applicability

M1 M2 M3

N1

N2

N3

O1

O2

O3

O4

(61) Air

condi-
tioning system

2005/…/EC

L…, …, p. … X

X (8)

(8) Only for vehicles of category N1, class I as described in the first table in point 5.3.1.4 of Annex I to Directive

70/220/EEC as inserted by Directive 98/69/EC.’’

2. Annex XI is amended as follows:

(a) in Appendix 1 a new item numbered (61) is inserted as follows:

‘Item

Subject

Directive No

M1

≤ 2 500
(1) kg

M1 > 2 500
(1) kg

M2

M3

(61)

Air conditioning
system

2005/…/EC

X

X’

(b) in Appendix 2 a new item numbered (61) is inserted as follows:

‘Item

(61)

Subject

Directive No

Air
tioning system

condi-

2005/…/EC

M1

X

M2

M3

N1

W’

N2

N3

O1

O2

O3

O4

(c) in Appendix 3 a new item numbered (61) is inserted as follows:

‘Item

(61)

Subject

Directive No

M2

M3

Air
tioning system

condi-

2005/…/EC

N2

N3

O1

O2

O3

O4

N1

W’

(d) in ‘Meaning of letters’ the following letter is added:

‘W Only for vehicles of category N1, class I as described in the first table in point 5.3.1.4. of Annex I to

Directive 70/220/EEC as inserted by Directive 98/69/EC’.

Method of calculating the total global warming potential (GWP) for a preparation

PART 2

The total GWP for a preparation is a weighted average, derived from the sum of the weight fractions of the individual
substances multiplied by their GWPs.
X

(Substance X % × GWP) + (Substance Y % × GWP) + … (Substance N % × GWP)

where % is the contribution by weight with a weight tolerance of +/- 1 %.

For example: applying the formula to a theoretical blend of gases consisting of 23 % HFC-32; 25 % HFC-125 and 52 %
HFC-134a;
X

(23 % × 550) + (25 % × 3 400) + (52 % × 1 300)

Total GWP = 1 652,5.

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS (1)

(1) See p. 12 of this Official Journal.