1st ICAI 2020

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2020

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

emissions measurement system (PEMS) was probably the biggest change to emission rules for light duty vehicles since regulations of this sort were introduced. Studies have shown, with particular emphasis on diesel vehicles, that regulations of this sort should reduce NOx emissions and therefore improve urban air quality (Bodisco, Zare 2019, p. 3). However, Framework Directive for the Approval of Motor Vehicles (2007/46/EC, O.J. L 263, 9. 10. 2007, p. 1) and those preceding it, were primarily intended to facilitate the placement on the market vehicles originating in different member states. In the absence of such harmonising legislation, a fragmentation of the internal market due to disparities in the technical requirements and controls governing the sale of vehicles would persisted. The whole process of harmonising standards has been demanding, since Commission has to take into consideration environmental law, specifically air quality standards. It is not made easier by the fact that both air quality and the transport industry are represented by two different EU Commission departments, i.e. one for climate and one for the industry. European Parliament in its Report on the inquiry into emission measurements in the automotive sector left no doubts that member states should take a more active part in the EU type-approval framework amendments and application (European Parliament, 2017). Large discrepancies between the NOx emissions of most Euro 3-6 diesel cars measured with the NEDC laboratory test, which meet the legal emission limit, and their NOx emissions measured in real driving conditions, which exceed the limit, affect the vast majority of diesel cars. No doubt, they were not limited only to the Volkswagen vehicles equipped with prohibited defeat devices. These disparities contribute to a large extent, to infringements of Air Quality Directive by several member states. The existence of the divergences, and their significant negative impact on attaining air quality objectives, in particular with regard to urban areas, has been known to the Commission, to the responsible member states’ authorities and to many other stakeholders since at least 2004–2005 when reg. 715/2007/EC was being prepared. The discrepancies have been confirmed by a large number of studies done by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) since 2010/2011 and other researchers since 2004. In the light of the criticism of the EU regulatory frameworks concerning both automotive emission and climate policies (Bodisco, Zare, 2019, Hooftman, Messagie, van Mierlo, Coosemans, 2018, Kurien, Srivastava, Molere, 2020, Oberthür, 2019) devolution of responsibilities seems to be very reasonable. Similarly, in the New European Green Deal (COM(2019) 640 final) the Commission drew on the lessons learnt from the evaluation of the current air quality legislation (SWD(2019) 427 final). It proposed to strengthen provisions on monitoring, modelling and air quality plans to help local authorities to achieve cleaner air in their municipalities (European Commission, 2019, p. 17). 2. Dispute over authority to limit vehicle traffic The heading case serves as a perfect picture of majority of legal conflicts associated with the application air quality standards and automotive sector type approval rules. The most relevant facts of the commented case were as follows. The cities of Paris, Brussels and Madrid have, under their environmental and health protection powers, adopted measures, in line with Euro 6 standard, to restrict vehicle traffic in order to combat

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