Directive 2006/40/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of  17 May 2006  relating to emissions from air conditioning systems in motor vehicles and amending Council Directive 70/156/EEC   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-05-17
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: EC conformity marking, greenhouse gas, motor vehicle, vehicle parts

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DIRECTIVE 2006/40/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 17 May 2006

relating to emissions from air-conditioning systems in motor vehicles and amending Council
Directive 70/156/EEC

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

motor vehicles in the Community. Therefore it is appro-
priate 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 conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated
greenhouse gases with a global warming potential
higher than 150.

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), in the light of the joint text approved by the
Conciliation Committee on 14 March 2006,

Whereas:

(1)

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 requirements for the type-approval of
motor vehicles with regard to air-conditioning systems
should be harmonised to avoid the adoption of require-
ments that differ from one Member State to another and to
ensure the proper functioning of the internal market.

(2) 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 the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint
fulfilment of commitments thereunder (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 implementation of these commitments
carries the risk of creating barriers to the free movement of

(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 (OJ
C 183 E, 26.7.2005, p. 17) and Position of the European Parliament of
26 October 2005 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
Legislative Resolution of the European Parliament of 6 April 2006
and Council Decision of 25 April 2006.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Emissions of hydrofluorocarbon-134a (HFC-134a), which
from air-
has a global warming potential of 1 300,
conditioning systems in motor vehicles are of growing
concern because of their impact on climate change. Cost-
effective and safe alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon‑134a
(HFC-134a) are expected to be available in the near future.
A review should be carried out to establish, in the light of
progress in potential containment of emissions from, or
replacement of,
fluorinated greenhouse gases in such
systems, whether this Directive should be extended to
the
other categories of motor vehicle and whether
provisions concerning the global warming potential of
these gases
taking account of
technological and scientific developments and the need to
respect industrial product planning timescales.

should be amended,

to ensure that

In order
the prohibition of certain
fluorinated greenhouse gases is effective, there is a need
to limit the possibility of retrofitting 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.

In order to limit
the emissions of certain fluorinated
greenhouse gases from air conditioning systems 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 commitments
the
the Community and its Member States under
of
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto
Protocol and Decision 2002/358/EC, Regulation (EC)
No 842/2006 of
the
Council of 17 May 2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse
gases (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.

the European Parliament and of

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

(4) See page 1 of this Official Journal.

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technical

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

(8)

(9)

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
implementing powers
the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (1).

for

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.

(10) 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, the Community
may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of
subsidiarity as set out
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.

in Article 5 of

the Treaty.

(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 interests
of the Community, their own tables which will, as far as
illustrate the correlation between this Directive
possible,
and the transposition measures, and to make them public,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Directive lays down the requirements for the EC type-
regards
approval or national

type-approval of vehicles as

emissions from, and the safe functioning of, air-conditioning
systems fitted to vehicles.
It also lays down provisions on
retrofitting and refilling of such systems.

Article 2

Scope

The Directive shall apply to motor vehicles of categories M1 and
N1 as defined in Annex II of 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 on 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 of 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;

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

systems

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

6.

‘hydrofluorocarbon’ means an organic compound consist-
ing of carbon, hydrogen and fluorine, and where no more
than six carbon atoms are contained in the molecule;

(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 2006/28/EC (OJ L 65, 7.3.2006, p. 27).

(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
Commission Regulation (EC) No 29/2006 (OJ L 6, 11.1.2006, p. 27).

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7.

8.

9.

‘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 (GWP) 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 adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (2001 IPCC GWP values) (1);

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

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 relating to emissions from air conditioning systems:

(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,

10.

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

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.

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.

2.
For the purpose of granting whole vehicle type-approval
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 green-
house gas with a global warming potential higher than 150,
Member States
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.

shall ensure that,

(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.

2. With effect from 12 months from the date of adoption of a
harmonised leakage detection test or 1 January 2007, whichever
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 greenhouse 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, whichever
is later, in respect of new vehicles fitted with air-conditioning
systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a
global warming potential higher than 150, unless the rate of
system does not exceed 40 grams of
leakage from that
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.

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.

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5. With effect from 1 January 2017, in respect of new vehicles
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:

(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.

(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.

6. Without prejudice to relevant Community law, in particular
Community rules on State aid and Directive 98/34/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying
down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of
technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information
Society services (1), Member States may promote the installation
of air-conditioning systems which are efficient, innovative and
further reduce the climate impact.

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 retrofitted to
vehicles type-approved from that date. With effect from 1 January
2017, such air-conditioning systems shall not be retrofitted to
any vehicles.

2. Air-conditioning systems fitted to vehicles type-approved 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.

Service providers offering service and repair
shall not

for air-
3.
conditioning systems
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.

fill

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

3. The Commission shall publish these measures in the Official
Journal of the European Union.

4. The procedure referred to in paragraph 2 shall apply to 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
in-use air-
air-conditioning systems and the refilling of
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

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

fitted to motor vehicles,

Article 7

Implementing measures

— the present

legislation should be extended to other
categories of vehicles, in particular categories M2 and M3
as well as classes II and III of category N1 and

1. By 4 July 2007, the Commission shall adopt the measures
for the implementation of Article 4 and Article 5, and in
particular:

(a)

the administrative provisions for the EC type-approval of
vehicles; 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
industrial product planning timescales,

(1) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37. Directive as last amended by the 2003 Act

of Accession.

and shall publish a report by 4 July 2011. Where necessary, it
shall present appropriate legislative proposals.

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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

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

— 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 fluorinated 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 11

Entry into force

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

Article 12

Addressees

Article 10

Transposition

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Strasbourg, 17 May 2006.

1. Member States shall adopt and publish by 4 January 2008
the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
comply with this Directive.

They shall apply those measures from 5 January 2008.

For the European
Parliament
The President
J. BORRELL FONTELLES

For the Council
The President
H. WINKLER

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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

‘61. Air-condi-
tioning system

(2006/40/EC)

Official Journal
reference

L 161,
14.6.2006,
p. 12

M2

M3

M1

X

N1

X
(8)

Applicability

N2

N3

O1

O2

O3

O4

(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

‘61

Subject

Directive No

M1 ≤ 2 500 (1) kg

M1 > 2 500 (1) kg

M2

M3

Air-conditioning
system

2006/40/EC

X

X’

(b)

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

Item

‘61

Subject

Directive No

Air-conditioning sys-
tem

2006/40/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-conditioning sys-
tem

2006/40/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.’

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PART 2

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

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.

Σ (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;

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

→ Total GWP = 1 652,5.