2nd ICAI 2022

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2022

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

Alternative fuels infrastructure deployment under EU law Justyna Bazylińska-Nagler Wroclaw University Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics Uniwersytecka 22/26, Wrocław 50-145 Poland e-mail: justyna.bazylinska-nagler@uwr.edu.pl Abstract Resume of 6-year-long application of Dir. 2014/94/EU on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure shows significant underdevelopment of the EUmarket in this field. The difficult experience of implementing this directive (24 infringement cases opened for non-transposition) shows the need for its revision. Apart from that, support for alternative fuels and more charging stations for vehicles is one of the Fit-for-55 priorities in industry and transport. Accordingly, this work deals with implications of planned replacement of the current directive with the new Regulation on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure. To begin with the choice of reg. (instead of dir.) as a legal instrument in the light of subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence) and proportionality principles. In addition to this, and above all else - this new reg. is planned to establish clearly binding and directly applicable obligations for member states to ensure their EU-wide coherent and timely application to guarantee the Union-wide roll-out of (re)charging and (re)fueling infrastructure. The deployment of which is crucial for the expected speed of sales of zero- and low-emission vehicles. Keywords: automotive sector, clean vehicles directive 2019/1161, directive 2014/94/ EU, draft regulation on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, Fit-for-55 JEL Classification: K23, K32, K33 1. Introduction For road transport, the European Green Deal (18.03.2020, COM(2019) 640 final.) sets the objective of having at least 1 million publicly accessible recharging and refueling stations in the EU by 2025. This would establish a springboard for the necessary much larger roll-out of such infrastructure until 2030, as projected in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy (9. 12. 2020, COM(2020) 789 final.) An important milestone on the Europe’s way to zero-emission mobility was Directive 2014/94/EU on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (OJ L 307, 28.10.2014, p. 1–20, AFID dir.). This directive established a common framework of measures for the deployment of this kind of infrastructure in the European Union. These measures were supposed to be implemented through national policy frameworks and then notified to the European Commission by the 18 Nov. 2016. The national policies based on this directive should contain the following elements: 1) as regards alternative fuels in the transport sector, an assessment of the current state and future market development, including the development of infrastructure with cross-border continuity, where relevant; 2) national targets for the implementation of alternative fuels infrastructure; 3) measures to

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