The European Parliament and the Council of the EU met for a second time on Tuesday 10 November in the early afternoon to discuss Regulation 715/2007 on emissions from light-duty vehicles, without being able to reach agreement on the issue of the conformity factor or on a possible date for its abolition.
The European Parliament would like an exclusion by 30 September 2022 of the conformity factor (see EUROPE 12595/10), i.e. the ratio between the limit measured as part of tests for polluting emissions and the regulatory limit for the same emissions in the ‘Real Driving Emissions’ test.
The EU Council rejects this on the grounds that it is difficult to predict technological advances with any accuracy. “For the Presidency, it remains a ‘no go’, because there is no scientific basis for this date”, we have been told. The European Commission is reportedly committed to making a statement on the end of the conformity factor as part of a proposal for a regulation on emission standards for light-duty vehicles scheduled for the second quarter of 2021.
On the issue of the conformity factor, the EU Council could be flexible about lowering it to 1.32 (i.e. with a tolerated excess of 1.32 times the regulatory limits), provided there is agreement on the other points: - the lifting of the deadline for abolition of the conformity factor; - the question of the use of a delegated act, an option backed by the European Parliament, since it would give it more power over the decision-making process; - measures covering PEMs, portable emissions measurement systems.
On the latter point, the European Parliament would like to oblige the Commission to impose stricter requirements as from June 2021, which the EU Council will refuse, following the same argument that technological progress remains uncertain for the time being.
The third inter-institutional meeting (trilogue) is expected to take place in the first week of December. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)