CELEX: 51991PC0244
Language: en
Date: 1991-07-04
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE AMENDING DIRECTIVE 77/143/EEC ON THE APPROXIMATION OF THE LAWS OF THE MEMBER STATES RELATING TO ROADWORTHINESS TESTS FOR MOTOR VEHICLES AND THEIR TRAILERS ( EXHAUST EMISSIONS )

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                          C0M(91) 244 final
                                          Brussels, 4 July 1991
                           Proposal for a
                         COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
            AMENDING DIRECTIVE 77/143 EEC ON THE
               APPROXIMATION OF THE LAWS OF THE
       MEMBER STATES RELATING TO ROADWORTHINESS TESTS
            FOR MOTOR VEHICLES AND THEIR TRAILERS
                      (EXHAUST EMISSIONS)
                   (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---                               — 2 -
                        Explanatory Memorandum
General Comments
Actual Situation
Directive 77/143/EEC*1>, as amended by Directive 88/449/EEC<2>,
concerns the technical inspection of heavy goods vehicles, buses,
taxis, ambulances and light goods vehicles.
These Directives set the periodicity of tests and provide a list of
the items to be tested.
Given that Directive 77/143/EEC does not set standard criteria for any
of the items that should be tested, it is thus necessary to set common
minimum test standards in order to guarantee an equal level of safety
and through this proposal, environmental performance throughout the
Community.
Directive 91/225/EEC<3> amending Directive 77/143/EEC, which was
recently adopted by the Council, is aimed at the establishment of a
procedure for the announcement of separate Directives for testing the
standard of the items listed in Annex II of Directive 77/143/EEC. It
also establishes a Technical Committee which gives the Commission the
mandate to adopt measures in order to adjust the technical
requirements to progress.
In line with the above, this new proposal amends Annex II to Directive
77/143/EEC as amended by 88/449/EEC so as to better define the limit
values for the acceptable levels of gaseous emissions for spark
ignition (petrol) and smoke opacity for compression ignition (diesel)
engined motor vehicles.
(1) OJ No. L47, 18.02.1977, p. 47
(2) OJ No. L222, 12.08.1988, p. 10
(3) OJ No. L103, 23.04.1991, p. 3
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 3
 Scope of the proposal
The scope of Directive 77/143/EEC as amended by 88/449/EEC includes
heavy and light commercial vehicles (as well as taxis and ambulances)
but does not include passenger cars. Passenger cars are the subject of
an amending proposal C0M(86)214<4>. Adoption of C0M(86)214 will
ensure that all motor vehicles, both passenger and commercial, are
subject to the necessary emission checks.
This proposal on testing the level of vehicle gaseous emissions or
smoke opacity dovetails into the current and proposed roadworthiness
schemes and so shares the same periodicity of testing. By the time
this proposal is adopted, or soon after, the legislation affecting the
manufacture of petrol engined passenger cars will be such as to force
the use of closed loop 3way catalytic converter systems which are
 lambda probe controller for most, if not all, new vehicles. The type
approval durability requirements for these vehicle emission control
systems would support a three year in use start point before they need
to be roadworthiness tested.
Heavy commercial vehicles (and also taxis and ambulances) will need to
be tested every year from the time of their first use, the diesel
engined vehicles requiring to demonstrate their level of engine
maintenance through a smoke opacity check. Light commercial vehicles
(less than 3.5 tonnes) will require a test periodicity of at least
commencing four years from first use and thereafter every two years.
It is considered that the durability of diesel engined vehicles
justifies this periodicity.
Vehicles first used before 1st January 1970 will not be required to
undergo an exhaust emission or smoke opacity check. However, Member
States will be free to test these vehicles to their own national
standards if they so wish.
(4) OJ No. C 133, 31.05.t986, P„ 3
 ---pagebreak---                                    - 4 -
Limit values
After much discussion with Member States National experts on
 roadworthiness testing, on vehicle construction standards and with
 representatives from the automobile and vehicle inspection industries
 it has been decided to set maximum vehicle gaseous emission and smoke
opacity limit values which will ensure that the "gross polluters" will
 fail the test.  The limits for Carbon Monoxide emissions for
conventional petrol engined vehicles, at 4.5 vol % and then 3.5 vol %,
reflect studies (in the UK) that have shown that some 50 % of CO emis-
sions comes from the worst 17 % or so of the petrol engined vehicles
on the roads at the moment.    Whereas those studies have also shown
that around 25 % of current in service conventionally engined
passenger cars have CO emission values worse than 4.5 vol %, bearing
 in mind that testing commences after the vehicles are 3 years oids it
 is anticipated that an initial failure rate of up to 50 % could be
expected.   Clearly it is in the publics interest to ensure that their
vehicles are correctly adjusted and maintained.
[As an a I ten    ?ve to the 4.5/3.5 vol % CO limits, the maximum content
of CO in the exhaust gas at idling shall be that stated by the vehicle
manufacturer and recorded at type approval testing.    This alternative
 is always equal to or lower than the 4.5/3.5 vol % limit.]
For petrol engined vehicles with advanced emission control systems,
 ie. with closed loop 3-way catalytic converter which are lambda (air/
fuel ratio) probe controlled, the limit CO valve of 0.3 vol % reflects
the need to maintain the quantum leap in vehicle emission reduction
brought about by the introduction of this new technology.
For vehicles with diesel engines this proposal adopts the philosophy
of judging the maintenance condition of the vehicle, and hence its
ability to be a low polluter, by measuring the opacity of its exhaust
smoke.
 ---pagebreak---                                   - 5 -
The Mmit values of    >-.e coefficient of absorption of the generated
                1
jmoke of 2.5 m~   for natural y aspirated diesel engines and 3.0 m~1
for turbo charged diesel engines take account of the imprecision of
the free acceleration test as a predictor of in service conditions, in
particular for turbo charged heavy commercial vehicles, but are
sufficiently tight to again identify the gross polluters, vehicles
that are responsible for most of the pollution emitted by vehicles in
service.
 ---pagebreak---                                - 6 •
                             PROPOSAL FOR A
                           COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
                     AMENDING DIRECTIVE 77/143/EEC
                ON THE APPROXIMATION OF THE LAWS OF THE
          MEMBER STATES RELATING TO ROADWORTHINESS TESTS FOR
                   MOTOR VEHICLES AND THEIR TRAILERS
The Council of the European Communities,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community and in particular Article 75 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission^1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par I lament* 2 ),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee*3^,
Whereas, Council Directive 77/143/EEC(4> as amended by Directive
88/449/EEC<5) provides for the regular roadworthiness testing of
certain road vehicles only (buses, heavy and light goods vehicles,
heavy trailers and semi trailers, taxis and ambulances) but not yet
for passenger cars;
Whereas, through Council Directive 91/225/EEC<6>, it is the intention
to establish procedures for the announcement of separate Directives
for testing the standard of the items listed in Annex II of the above
Directives;
Whereas, through the above directive it is also the intention to
establish a Technical Committee which gives the Commission the mandate
to adopt measures in order to adjust the technical requirements to
progress:
(1) OJ N" C ...
(2) OJ N* C ...
(3) OJ N* C ...
(4) OJ N- L47, 18.2.1977, p. 47
(5) OJ N' L222, 12.8.1988, p. 10
(6) OJ N' L 103, 23.4.1991, p. 3
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 7
 Whereas, by this Directive it is the intention to maintain the exhaust
 emission of vehicles at a low level during their useful  life by means
 of a periodical exhaust emission test and ensure that vehicles which
 are gross polluters are removed from service until they are correctiy
 maintained ;
Whereas, most Member States have adopted procedures for testing heavy
 commercial vehicles with regard to the opacity of their exhaust smoke-,
Whereas, several Member States have national rules for testing the
gaseous emissions from lighter vehicles including passenger cars;
Whereas, assessment of the type approval testing for gaseous emissions
and diesel smoke for all vehicle types shows that the reproduction of
 those testing procedures within the roadworthiness test is not
realist ic;
Whereas, standards that are dictated for in service testing should
focus on the maintenance condition of the vehicle, and thereby its
ability to meet type approval performance criteria, during a
relatively simple, quick and inexpensive test;
Whereas, wrong tuning of the engine and insufficient maintenance are
detrimental to the engine and to the environment through increases in
pollution and fuel consumption;
Whereas, as far as diesel engines (compression ignition) are
concerned, measurement of the opacity of the exhaust emissions is
considered a sufficient  indicator of the condition of the vehicles'
emission control system;
Whereas, for conventional petrol engines (spark ignition) the
measurement of the vehicles' tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide
taken at engine idle speed, is considered to give a sufficient
indication of the vehicles maintenance condition;
Whereas, it is expected that the failure rate of the above vehicles
retating to exhaust emissions could be high if the vehicle has not
been subjected to routine marntenance;
 ---pagebreak---                                - S -
Whereas, for petrol engined vehicles where- tNo type approval requi-
rements necessitate that they be equipped with advanced emission
control systems such as closed loop, 3way catalytic converters which
are lambda probe controlled, the standard for in service emission
testing will be more severe than for conventional vehicles-,
Whereas, it is the intention to adapt this Directive to take account
of future developments on the provision of vehicle construction
measures which facilitate in service inspection and advances in
testing methodology designed to better reflect conditions in service
Has adopted this Directive.
                               Article 1
1.   Sub Paragraph 8.2 of Annex II to Directive 77/143 EEC as amended
     by Directive 88/449 EEC which concerns exhaust emissions is
     replaced by:
 ---pagebreak---                                « 9
8.2       Exhaust Emissions
8.2.1    Motor vehicles equipped with spark ignition (petro!) engines
a)       where the exhaust emissions are not governed by an advanced
         emission control system such as a closed loop three way
         catalytic converter which is lambda probe controlled.
         1. Visual inspection of the exhaust system in order to check
         that there are no leakages.
         2. Visual inspection of the emission control system if
         applicable in order to check that the necessary equipment is
         present.
         After a reasonable period of engine conditioning commensurate
         with the vehicle manufacturers recommendations the carbon
         monoxide (CO) content of the exhaust gases will be measured
         at engine idle speed (no load).
         The maximum allowable content of CO in the exhaust gases
         shall be that which is stated by the vehicle manufacturer and
         recorded at the time of initial type approval with a
         tolerance of 0.5 vol %.   Where this data is not available or
         where Member States testing authorities decide not to use
         this data as a reference value then the exhaust gas content
         of CO must not be greater than the following :
         For vehicles manufactured prior to October 1986 or the date
         on which Member States required the vehicles at first
         registration to comply with the type approval Directive
         70/220/EEC<7> as amended : CO - 4.5 vol %
(7) OJ Nr L 76 of 9.3.1970, p.
 ---pagebreak---                                   - 10 -
          For vehicles manufactured after 1 October 1986 :
                     CO - 3.5 vol %
          Vehicles manufactured prior to 1 January 1970 are exempted
          from these requirements.
b)        where the exhaust emissions are governed by an advanced
          emission control system such as a closed loop three way
          catalytic converter which is lambda probe controlled or where
          the vehicles' exhaust emissions are governed by some other
          method in order to comply with the type approval provisions
          of Directive 70/220/EEC as amended [by the consolidated
          emissions Directive* 8 *].
          1. Visual inspection of the exhaust system in order to check
          that there are no leakages and that all parts are complete.
          2. Visual inspection of the emission control system in order
          to verify that the necessary equipment is present.
          3. Determination of the efficiency of the vehicles emission
          control system by measuring the lambda value and the CO
          content of the exhaust gases according to point 4 below or
          according to the manufacturers optional procedures as
          recorded at the time of initial type approval.  The vehicle
          shall undergo a period of engine conditioning commensurate
         with the vehicle manufacturers recommendations for each of
          the tests.
         4. Tail pipe emissions - limit values
         -   Measurement at engine idle speed ;
             The maximum allowable content in the exhaust gases of CO
             shall be that which is stated by the vehicle manufacturer
             and recorded at the time of initial type approval.
             Where this data is not available then the CO limit of 0.5
             vol X should not be exceeded.
(8) Council N' 4102/91 adopted by the Council on 4 March 1991.
 ---pagebreak---                                 11 -
           Measurement at increased idling speed without engine load
           engine speed to be at least 2000 r.p.m.
           CO content : no greater than 0.3 vol %
           Lambda     : I ± 0.03 or in accordance with the
                        manufacturers specifications.
8
  •2•2 Motor vehicles equipped with compression ignition (diesel)
       engines
       Measurement of exhaust gas opacity upon revving the engine
       with transmission in neutral (no load), i.e. the engine is
       accelerated from idling speed up to cut off speed. The level
       of opacity shall be no more than that which is stated by the
       vehicle manufacturer and recorded on the vehicle at the time
       of initial type approval with a tolerance of
       0.5 m ~1. Where this data is not available or where
       Member States testing authorities decide not to use this
       value as a reference than the following limit values should
       not be exceeded :
       Maximum coefficient of absorption for
       Naturally aspirated diesel engines - 2.5 m~1»
       Turbo charged diesel engines        • 3.0 m"
       Vehicles manufactured prior to 1 January 1970 are exempted
       from these requirements.
8.2.3. Test equipment
       The testing of both petrol engined and diesel engined
       vehicles will require the use of equipment capable of
       accurately testing vehicles against the prescribed or stated
       limit values.
 ---pagebreak---                                   -M -
                              Article 2
1.   Member States shall take the measures necessary to comply with
     this Directive before 1 January 1993. They shall forthwith
     inform the Commission thereof.
2.   When the Member States adopt the provisions referred to in
     paragraph 1, these shall contain a reference to this Directive or
     shall be accompanied by such a reference at the time of their
     official publication. The form of this reference sha11 be
     decided by the Member States.
3.   Member States shall communicate to the Commission the provisions
     of national law which they adopt In the field governed by this
     Directive.
                               Article 3
This Directive is addressed to the Member States
Done at Brussels,        For the Council
                         The President
 ---pagebreak--- Compet i t i veness and Cmplovment Impact Statement
!.    What is the main reason for introducing this measure?
 Whereas the build standard of vehicles, with regard to the emissions
 of gaseous pollutants, have improved over the years, the ability      to
 maintain a reasonably low level of emissions from in service vehicles
  is tested only in a few Member States. It Is recognised as being of
 vital importance that vehicles continue to produce levels of
 emissions in service which can equate to their original type approved
 standard. Tests have shown that vehicles with conventional petrol
 engines can produce four times or more carbon monoxide than they do
 when new (although the level of nitrous oxides tends to fall slightly
  in service). A simple    Justment is invariably all that is required
 to bring these vehicles back into tune. Modern petrol engined
 vehicles with catalytic converters (with lambda probe controlled
 air/fuel ratio) produce in the order of 1/10 the pollutants of
 conventional vehicles. It is important that this impressive standard
  is maintained in service as failure of the catalyst through lead
 poisoning, burn out etc can render the vehicle worse than those with
 relatively modern conventional engines. For diesel engines, dense
 clouds of smoke are the obvious manifestation of poor engine
 maintenance. This poor maintenance will invariably cause high levels
 of gaseous emissions (as well as soot and other particulates). Again
 this proposal aims at identifying the gross polluters.
I I.   Features of the business in question
 All users of vehicles, the subject of Directive 77/143/EEC as
 amended, also garages, technical services and agencies charged with
 vehicle roadworthiness testing will be affected. As things stand at
 the moment, only commercial vehicles, including taxis and ambulances,
 are covered by roadworthiness Directives.
 ---pagebreak---                               - -iq -
 The amendment to include passenger cars within a Community
 roadworthiness scheme remains on the table of the Council. Until this
 amendment is adopted this proposal on exhaust emissions will not
 affect owners of passenger cars nor those small businesses responsible
 for their operation or maintenance.
 111.What obligations does this measure impose directly
     on business?
  Users of vehicles, be they the general public or commercial operators
  will need to pay particular attention to the standard of maintenance
  of their vehicles' emission control/engine management systems. This
  is no more than should reasonably be done anyway for both
  environmental and fuel saving reasons. The cost of the roadworthiness
  test may rise (by approximately 20 %) for those Member States that do
  not currently test for vehicle emissions. Also, the testing
  agencies/garages will need to invest in equipment which, for testing
  vehicles with catalysts etc. could cost a further 7000 ECU. However,
  as yet passenger cars will be unaffected by this proposal until they
  are included within the roadworthiness scheme.
IV. What indirect obligations are national, regional or local
     authorities likely to impose on business?
  Implementation of the obligations as described in III.
V.    Are there any special provisions In respect to SME's?
 Where roadworthiness testing is delegated to private garages, these
 garages will incur an extra cost for test equipment. However, that
 cost can be offset by increased fees.
 ---pagebreak---                              - 4S -
VI.  What Is the likely effect on:
a)   The competitiveness of business
The extra complexity of testing for exhaust emissions will increase
the cost of the roadworthiness test for commercial vehicle operators
by approximately 20 %. This will apply to passenger car operators as
and when these vehicles are included in the roadworthiness scheme.
This proposal will equalise the conditions of competition by
standardising on the type of test to be applied.
Certain EFTA countries (Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Austria) carry
out or are intending to carry out emission testing on the lines of the
proposal.
b)   Employment
 Possibly a marginal increase commensurate with the increased time to
 test the vehicles.
VII.Have the relevant representation organisations been consulted?
 All Member States roadworthiness testing authorities, the
 coordinating body of roadworthiness testes (CITA), DEKRA, the garage
 equipment association and private testing organisations have been
 consulted.
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                      ISSN 0254-1475
                                                              COM(91) 244 final
                                                      DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                              07
                                 Catalogue number : CB-CO-91-286-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-77-73783-2
Office for Officiai Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg