29.6.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 228/107
— periodically transmit emissions values to servers to facilitate market surveillance activities, in-service conformity checks and roadworthiness testing.
While such a system can indeed help to simplify monitoring processes, developing it requires the rapid development of technical rules that will make it possible to specify the hardware needed (sensors, software, etc.).
This development, which will potentially have a major impact on users, will in itself require a period of three years after the technical rules are published for the purpose of implementation. 5.4.
Regarding light-duty vehicles, the limit values proposed by the Commission may appear to lack ambition in that they correspond, in principle, to harmonisation based on the lowest value set out in the Euro 6 rules for petrol and diesel engines.
However, it is important to note that: — in its annexes, the draft Regulation provides for a redefinition of the conditions that currently ensure that the road test is representative of normal vehicle use, which will force manufacturers to adjust the size of the after-treatment systems; — harmonising limits on the basis of the best value increases the constraints for petrol engines (limit reduced by 50 % on CO for petrol passenger cars) as well as for diesels (NOx limit reduced by 40 % for heavy-duty diesel vehicles); — contrary to the Euro 6 Regulation, the Euro 7 Regulation provides for no tolerance, the basis for which will be the road test. 5.5.
Given that microplastics from tyres are one of the most significant sources of ocean pollution and that no limit has yet been set due to the lack of a procedure at UN level, there is an urgent need for such a procedure to be developed as soon as possible. 5.6.
The Committee questions the need to introduce ammonia emission standards for cars.
Given that the transport sector accounts for less than 1 % of European ammonia emissions, the cost of this measure does not seem to be proportionate to the benefits.
The Committee also raises questions on the appropriateness of imposing a system on vehicles to limit evaporative emissions when filling up with fuel, while Europe has already put in place a suction device for fuel pumps. 5.7.
For heavy-duty vehicles, the limit values proposed by the Commission signify a break with the values in the Euro 6 Regulation, with reduction targets of, respectively, — 80 % for NOx and particulate number and up to — 95 % for CO.
Furthermore, in view of their impact on the greenhouse effect, the Commission proposes to regulate the thresholds for CH4 (methane) and N2O (nitrous oxide) individually, with the latter being set at a particularly low level.
Of course, these changes will require significant investment, which will have to be taken into account in the upcoming discussions on the CO2 trajectory of heavy-duty vehicles (1).
Brussels, 27 April 2023.
The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Oliver RÖPKE
(1)
COM(2023) 88 final.