Differences of opinion emerged on Tuesday 21 January in Parliament’s Environment Committee during a debate on the draft report presented to them by Esther de Lange (EPP, Netherlands) on the conformity factor in RDE tests under the proposed revision of the 2007 regulation on type-approval for motor vehicles with respect to emissions from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (EURO 5 and EURO 6) (see EUROPE 12389/8).
The Commission proposes a conformity factor of 1.43 for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions (see EUROPE 12389/8). Esther de Lange hopes that in the future this conformity factor will be regularly revised downwards, on an annual basis, taking into account the available scientific data and that of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), which is currently working on a maximum conformity factor of 1.32. The JRC study, initially expected in January, has been postponed to February.
The draft report calls on the Commission to review the conformity factor annually to take account of improvements in the quality of test material and the tests themselves.
Mrs Lange recalled that the conformity factor consists of an emission limit value of 80 mg/km for NOx and a margin of error related to the technical and statistical uncertainties of the testing equipment.
“The idea is to broaden the debate beyond the margin of error to really talk about this NOx emission limit value which, in my opinion, should be considered in the proposed EURO 6 and EURO 7 standards”, she explained. Her report calls on the Commission to do so by the first half of 2021.
In her view, it is also important to do things properly from a legal point of view, as this revision of the Regulation is in response to a judgment of the Court of Justice, which had condemned the revision of legislation by comitology.
“I know that there is an appeal process, but I think we have to assume that co-decision will be used and that we have to work on the basis of a scientific approach”, she said.
Furthermore, she would like to see the standardisation of portable emission measuring systems (PEMS) by the European Committee for Standardization (ECS) completed as soon as possible so that PEMS use the best available technology.
Susana Solis Pérez (Renew Europe, Spain) expressed her full support to the rapporteur, arguing that “an ambitious legislative proposal is needed after EURO 6 in June 2021”. As of January 2020, the conformity factor is 1 for manufacturers, and the margin of error is 0.43 for RDE testing, she said.
But for Miriam Dalli (S&D, Malta), ignoring the recommendations of the EMIS special committee, which clearly advocated reducing the conformity factor to 1, is unthinkable.
The conformity factors of 2.1 and 1.5 in RDE tests allow for NOx emissions of 168 mg/km and 120 mg/km, well above 80 mg/km, she said.
According to her, “’conformity factors’ or ‘margins of error’ or any other deviation from the 80 mg/km limit value adopted twelve years ago are loopholes and are not justifiable, as they allow less efficient technologies to continue and constitute a derogation from the standards in force”. For reasons of public health and a level playing field, she considers it unacceptable that diesel vehicles should be given “flexibility to pollute more” and that the value of 80 mg/km for diesel vehicles should be even higher than the one applicable to petrol cars (60 mg/km). Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) is on the same page.
Kateřina Konečná (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic) called for compliance with existing legislation and for waiting for the CRC’s conclusions and the review of legislation in a year’s time before taking a properly informed decision. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)