MEPs made their initial comments to the European Commission on the ‘End-of-Life Vehicles’ Regulation in the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment on Thursday 16 January.
The EU Council did the same at the Environment Council on Tuesday 17 December (see EUROPE 13547/8). As was the case during the discussions between the Member States, the first blockages have appeared, even though MEPs have until 19 February to table their amendments.
The European Commission explained to MEPs that this proposal was an “ambitious roadmap to support the transition to a circular economy in the automotive sector”.
Proposed in July 2023, the Regulation (see EUROPE 13222/16) aims to strengthen the circularity of the automotive sector through measures relating to the design and production of vehicles and the treatment of end-of-life vehicles.
Competitiveness. The threat to competitiveness posed by the text was used as a scarecrow, concentrating the main criticisms or doubts at best. While acknowledging that this Regulation was important not only for the “priorities of the European Green Deal”, but also “for industry and for the circular economy”, the rapporteur, Paulius Saudargas (EPP, Lithuanian), warned that “unfair competition from the heavily subsidised Chinese automotive sector” would have to be taken into account.
According to Alexandr Vondra (ECR, Czech), this proposal risks “aggravating the situation” at a time when “the European automotive sector is already under ferocious pressure”. For him, as for Silvia Sardone (PfE, Italian), the objective that “at least 25% of the plastic used to build a new vehicle should come from recycling, including 25% from end-of-life vehicles” is “unachievable”. The Regulation will even lead to “higher prices”, according to Piotr Müller (ECR, Polish).
In response, the European Commission assured that by strengthening the circularity of the entire automotive supply chain, the ‘End-of-Life Vehicles’ Regulation will contribute to competitiveness from three angles: innovation, decarbonisation and economic security (enabled by improved circularity of raw materials).
Administrative burden? Genuine European circularity in the automotive sector will not see the light of day without harmonisation. The creation of a digital circularity passport for vehicles should meet this need. The latter would be used in particular “to improve the provision of information on how to safely remove and replace vehicle parts and components”, according to the Commission’s proposal.
Transparency is necessary and should make it possible to “ensure that the recycled content of imported cars is not fake recycled materials”, according to Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, French). However, in his view, it should not become an administrative burden.
In addition, the obligation to present an individual circularity strategy for each model could be reduced to a “company circularity strategy, or at least for the type of vehicle”, in order to control the administrative burden, suggested Paulius Saudargas.
Missing vehicles. Three to four million vehicles disappear from Member States’ statistics every year. This Regulation is intended to introduce “better coordination” between Member States in order to reduce the number of these “missing vehicles”.
To achieve this, the Commission’s proposal aims to restrict the export of European vehicles to third countries to vehicles that “comply with roadworthiness test requirements”. This would also allow these vehicles to be recycled under environmentally-friendly conditions.
A social issue. Developing the circularity market in the automotive sector will create jobs, according to Pierfrancesco Maran (S&D, Italian).
However, Mr Saudargas and Ondřej Dostál (non-attached, Czech) feared that the Regulation would have negative repercussions for the less well-off on the issue of the irreparability of a vehicle. There is no reason, according to the first, “to consider the market value of the vehicle as an indicator of its reparability”. The Lithuanian explained that some households can afford to pay for repairs, but not to buy a new vehicle.
Extension of the scope? The Greens/EFA, through Rasmus Nordqvist (Danish), pointed to a lack of ambition in the targets for recycled plastic per vehicle. Paulius Saudargas has proposed extending the recyclability targets to materials other than plastic, which the Commission is refusing to do for the time being, in the absence of a feasibility study.
The amendments will be examined between 17 and 20 March. An initial vote will be held in the Committee on Environment on 24 June, before a plenary vote scheduled for September. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)