1st ICAI 2020

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2020

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

Likewise, a local public authority could currently, without infringing the Framework Directive for the Approval of Motor Vehicles impose restrictions on circulation based on the level of pollutant emissions in respect of vehicles complying only with the Euro 5 standard, since that standard and the previous Euro standards are no longer in force for the purposes of the application of that directive. The Euro 6 standard has applied since 1 Sept. 2014 for the homologation of new passenger vehicles and since 1 Sept. 2015 for the registration or the authorisation to sell or put into service those vehicles. To support this argument one can cite the decision Commission v Austria (C-28/09) of 2011 where the CJEU stated that, a member state protecting air quality, might perfectly prohibit the circulation of lorries falling into, an earlier Euro class, that the current one. Whereas, imposing a sectoral traffic prohibition applicable to lorries regardless of Euro class into which they fell, would be contrary to the rules of the Treaty on the free movement of goods (T-339/16, T-352/16 and T-391/16, paras 52-53). To enhance trade, competitiveness and free movement of vehicles automotive industry implements an internal market regulatory framework of technical requirements. For this reason, the interpretation and application of the Framework Directive for the Approval of Motor Vehicles has to guarantee that a new owner of a new motor vehicle compliant with the homologation requirements is entitled, not only to purchase, register, put it into service and to get behind the wheel, but also to be certain of his future entrance to low emission zones in Paris, Madrid or Brussels. The practical effect of that directive would be undermined if the placement on the market of the vehicles potentially concerned would be impeded by the fear that it may not be possible to use them normally. For example, if a driver using a vehicle to travel to Paris, Brussels or Madrid were to anticipate that these cities were going to prohibit, entirely or partly, the circulation of vehicles in their territory which do not comply with the limits of the Euro 6 standard during RDE tests, even if those vehicles do comply with the NTE values, such a driver might opt not to buy such a new petrol or diesel motor vehicle (T-339/16, T-352/16 and T-391/16, para 67). To conclude, traffic restrictions relating to the level of vehicle pollutants, adopted by the member states’ public authorities run counter to EU law, in so far as they apply to vehicles compliant with the most recent homologation standards and limits. However, the cities of Paris, Brussels and Madrid in the commented case successfully proved that they are entitled to challenge too lenient NOx emission limits determined by the Commission for RDE tests. Since they could not include cars which had successfully undergone those excessively liberal tests within the limits of domestic traffic-restriction measures i.e. low emission zones. They argued that the challenged regulation was adopted to constitute a ‘licence to pollute’ or a decline in the level of environmental protection. Commission, on the contrary, claimed that it bolstered the RDE testing system and the legal arsenal to combat air pollution by preventing the homologation of vehicles equipped with prohibited defeat devices (T-339/16, T-352/16 and T-391/16, para 104).

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