At the end of their second interinstitutional meeting, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached agreement on Monday 18 December on the ‘EURO 7’ regulation (see EUROPE 13061/14).
The EURO 7 regulation aims to introduce stricter environmental standards for vehicles. The main objective is to ensure stricter and longer compliance with environmental standards, thereby improving the cleanliness of vehicles throughout their entire life cycle.
The agreement maintains the current test conditions and emission ceilings of the ‘EURO 6’ standard (for light vehicles) for cars and vans. In line with requests from the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13270/5), a more precise measurement of exhaust particles will be implemented, moving from PN23 to PN10, to include finer particles.
More stringent exhaust emission limits for buses and trucks have been set, both for laboratory tests and for real-life driving conditions, while preserving the current ‘EURO VI’ test conditions (for heavy-duty vehicles).
Specific ceilings for brake particulate emissions have been set for various types of vehicle.
In addition, the agreement introduces minimum performance standards for the durability of batteries in electric and hybrid vehicles and vans.
The text also introduces an environmental passport for each vehicle, providing comprehensive information on environmental performance from the moment of registration. This passport will make it easier to access information on energy consumption, battery condition, pollutant emissions and other essential data.
The rapporteur, Alexandr Vondra (ECR, Czech), welcomed an agreement that represents a balance between environmental protection and the needs of car manufacturers.
CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, while acknowledging some progress, expressed a more mixed opinion, suggesting that higher ambitions would have been technically and economically feasible.
This text still has to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council. It will then be published in the Official Journal of the EU. The new rules will apply 30 months after publication for cars and vans and 48 months after publication for buses, lorries and trailers. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)