Luxembourg, 08/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The member states have until Friday 16 October to agree their position on “not-to-exceed limits” (NTE) within the framework of real driving emissions (RDE) tests for motor vehicles, Internal Market and Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska announced at the Transport Council on Thursday 8 October.
Very tight deadlines set. The Commission would like definitive NTE limits to be decided by the end of the month. These limits are likely to be adopted by member states' experts under the comitology procedure within the Technical Committee Motor Vehicles (TCMV) on 28 October.
In May of this year, the TCMV agreed the testing procedure that is due to come into force in January 2016, complementing laboratory tests, and to become binding in September 2017. What remains to be decided are the limits not to be exceeded. This is a task for the member states. The commissioner indicated that some member states, such as Germany, supported the Commission's proposal and wanted it to be put into effect as quickly as possible, while others, such as France, still have to determine their position.
“If they come to agreement, the act will be put to the European Parliament and the Council for adoption. If not, it will go only to the Council”, another European source explained.
Volkswagen action plan. RDE featured on the agenda at the request of German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who spoke at greater length than the other ministers in the public debate - not surprisingly as the Volkswagen scandal affects Germany first and foremost. Dobrindt said that Volkswagen had put a submission to the German motor vehicle safety office (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt - KBA) setting out the measures it intended to take and a precise timetable.
Volkswagen has announced varying procedures and timescales depending on the engine concerned, the minister said. For 2-litre diesel engines, an alteration to the software should be enough and vehicles will be recalled before the end of the year. However, for 1.6-litre engines, new software will be required and the engine will have to be modified. Here, the group expects a vehicle recall in September 2016. Finally, for 1.2-litre engines, it is likely that the recall will be in May 2016. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)