Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2003)522 - Approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the measures to be taken against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from compression ignition engines for use in vehicles, and the emission of gaseous pollutants from positive-ignition engines fuelled with natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas for use in vehicles (Recast version)

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dossier COM(2003)522 - Approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the measures to be taken against the emission of gaseous and ...
source COM(2003)522 EN
date 05-09-2003
1. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL

As requested in Articles 4 to 7 of Council Directive 88/77/EEC i, as amended by European Parliament and Council Directive 1999/96/EC i, the objective of the proposal is to strengthen Community requirements aimed at limiting polluting emissions from new heavy-duty engines for use in vehicles through the introduction of:

- new technical requirements and procedures for assessing the durability of heavy-duty engine emission control systems over periods of defined useful life;

- new technical requirements and procedures for assessing the in-service conformity of heavy-duty engine emission control systems over defined useful life period appropriate for the vehicle in which the engine is installed; and

- new technical requirements for on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems for new heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

These requirements are presently governed by Directive 88/77/EEC, as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/27/EC i.

The Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions having the title 'updating and simplifying the Community acquis' i identifies, as a priority area for simplification of Community legislation, the type-approval system for motor vehicles. The modernisation of Directive 88/77/EEC is specifically listed in the Commission work programme.

Directive 88/77/EEC has undergone four amendments and Council Directive 91/542/EEC of 1 October 1991 i and European Parliament and Council Directive 1999/96/EC i have introduced provisions which, while being autonomous, have a strong link to the scheme established under Directive 88/77/EEC.

It is therefore appropriate to increase the legibility of Directive 88/77/EEC on this occasion of amendment by recasting it at a time when the European Community is about to embrace new members and when a major global agreement i on the establishing of international technical regulations has been concluded in Geneva.

Directive 88/77/EEC will therefore be repealed by this Directive.

The existing annexes laid down in Directive 88/77/EEC and the amendments necessary to introduce the new technical requirements described above are therefore recast according to the Inter-Institutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts i.

Contents

1.

2. NEW REGULATORY APPROACH


2.

2.1. Split-level approach


Traditionally, proposals for Directives in the field of motor vehicle construction and type-approval, in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty, laid down not only the fundamental provisions, but also specified the technical specifications applicable to motor vehicles in a great deal of detail. As a result the European Parliament and the Council had to study more voluminous and technically more complex pieces of draft legislation than if the technical details had otherwise been omitted.

This proposal is structured in a different way compared to existing Directives covering the type-approval of motor vehicles. It constitutes an effort to improve the efficiency of the decision-making process and simplify the proposed legislation, so that the European Parliament and the Council can focus more on the political direction and content whilst leaving the Commission with the task of adopting the appropriate requirements that would implement such political direction and content.

To this end, a 'split-level approach' has been followed in this proposal, where the proposal and adoption of legislation will be made according to two different, but parallel, routes:

- on the one hand, the fundamental provisions would be laid down by the European Parliament and the Council in a Directive based on Article 251 of the Treaty through the co-decision procedure (hereafter termed the co-decision proposal);

- on the other hand, the technical specifications implementing the fundamental provisions would be laid down in a Directive adopted by the Commission with the assistance of a regulatory committee (hereafter termed the comitology proposal).

The delegation of executive powers to the Commission for adaptation to technical progress of Directives in the area of motor vehicle type-approval is provided for in Article 13 of the type-approval framework Directive 70/156/EEC i, as amended by Directive 92/53/EEC i. The present proposal refers, in Article 6, to the procedure provided in Article 13 of the framework Directive for the adoption by the Commission of implementing measures as well as the adaptation to technical progress of existing ones.

Accordingly, it should be noted that for the purposes of this and future proposals, any requirement which the Commission considers to directly affect the emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants from an engine will always be contained within a co-decision proposal to the co-legislators.

3.

3. BACKGROUND


Directive 1999/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council laid down three stages of emission limit values for new heavy-duty engines for use in vehicles, to be carried out on three new test cycles. The European Steady [state] Cycle (ESC), European Load Response [test] (ELR) and the European Transient Cycle (ETC) are the applicable cycles for measuring emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), total hydrocarbons (THC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulates (PT) and smoke opacity. On the ETC test, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) are also measured (but the same limit value for NMHC may instead be used for total hydrocarbons); methane (CH4) is also measured in the case of gas engines.

The first two stages of emission limit values, widely given the assignation Euro 3 and Euro 4, are applicable to new types of heavy-duty engines from October 2000 and 2005 and all types of heavy-duty engines from October 2001 and October 2006. A third level of standards that provides more stringent NOx limits only (the other emission limits from Euro 4 carry-forward), and given the assignation Euro 5, is applicable to all types of heavy-duty engines from October 2009. However, Article 7 of Directive 1999/96/EC requires the Euro 5 limits to be confirmed by the Commission [by the end of 2002].

Articles 4 to 7 of Directive 1999/96/EC require the Commission to come forward with proposals on a number of technical issues:

Article 4: provisions for on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems;

Article 5: provisions for ensuring the durability of the emission control system of a heavy-duty vehicle engine;

Article 6: provisions for ensuring the in-service conformity of the emission control system of a heavy-duty engine.

In addition, Article 7 requires the Commission to take account of a number of pertinent factors:

- the review processes set out in Article 3 of Directive 98/69/EC and Article 9 of Directive 98/70/EC;

- the development of compression-ignition engine and gas engine emission control technology and the interdependence of such technology with fuel quality;

- the need to improve the accuracy and repeatability of the current measurement and sampling procedures for very low levels of particulates from engines;

- the development of a world-wide harmonised test cycle for type-approval testing;

- appropriate limits for pollutants currently not regulated as a consequence of the widespread introduction of new alternative fuels.

As noted above, the Commission is due to confirm the NOx limit of 2.0 g/kWh set for mandatory application from 1 October 2008 (Euro 5) for all new type-approvals and 1 October 2009 for all new heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

At that time, the Commission will also report on the development of a world-wide harmonised test cycle for the type-approval testing of heavy-duty engines and, if appropriate, accompany the report with a proposal to introduce such a harmonised test cycle at an appropriate time.

Article 7 of Directive 1999/96/EC also requires the Commission to bring forward proposals for pollutants currently not regulated as a consequence of the widespread introduction of new alternative fuels. While Directive 1999/96/EC laid down specific emission limits for heavy-duty vehicles or engines using natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas and Directive 2001/27/EC included the technical provisions to allow for the type-approval of heavy-duty vehicles or engines using ethanol, there has been little widespread introduction of what could be described as new alternative fuels.

In total, less than 1,000 alternative-fuelled engines were produced in the EU in 2000, mostly natural gas engines for the bus market. This represents less than 3% of the EU bus production, and 0.02% of the combined truck and bus production. Several manufacturers plan to certify their future alternative-fuelled engines as Enhanced Environmentally [friendly] Vehicles (EEV). By 2005 no major EU heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer is expected to produce any ethanol vehicles. Current production is only around 25 per annum.

The review of the 2008 NOx emission limit, foreseen in Article 7 of Directive 1999/96/EC, will broadly address the issue of emissions of non-regulated pollutants as a consequence of the introduction of new exhaust emission control systems to meet the 2008 emission standards.

Therefore, emission limits for presently non-regulated pollutants are not introduced in this proposal. However, as stated in Article 7 of this proposal, the Commission will keep under review the need to introduce new emission limits for presently unregulated pollutants as a consequence of a wider introduction of new alternative fuels and the introduction of new exhaust emission control systems to meet the future standards laid down in Directive 88/77/EEC.

The application of measures applied to the transport sector that may be developed through the Commission's contact group on alternative fuels will also have a bearing on this review i.

4.

4. CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL


5.

4.1. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council


The co-decision proposal will be a recasting of Directive 88/77/EEC according to the Inter-Institutional Agreement referred to in section 1 and, in addition, will contain the new fundamental provisions according to the split-level approach. It will contain the following:

6.

4.1.1. Definitions - Article 1


The definitions are as laid down in Directive 1999/96/EC, as last amended by Directive 2001/27/EC.

7.

4.1.2. Obligations of the Member States - Article 2


Article 2 of the proposal recasts the dates of application for the present legal requirements applicable to compression-ignition and gas engines and vehicles propelled by compression-ignition or gas engines. Measures which applied from 1 October 2000 and 1 October 2001, as laid down in Directive 1999/96/EC, are now already in force and therefore only the measures and not the dates are referred to in Articles 2 i, 2 i and 2 i.

For gas engines, the application of the Euro 3 emission limits given in the tables in section 6.2.1 of Annex I to Directive 88/77/EEC (as amended by Directive 1999/96/EC) were laid down in Article 2 i of the same Directive for new type-approvals (1 October 2000) and Article 2 i for all type-approvals (1 October 2001).

Directive 2001/27/EC subsequently introduced amendments to the technical annexes of Directive 88/77/EEC specifically with respect to gas engines and which take effect for all gas engine type-approvals from 1 October 2003. Up until this date, a gas engine that has a type-approval according to the previous Directive (1999/96/EC) will remain applicable. Gas engine manufacturers are complying today with the new technical requirements laid down in Directive 2001/27/EC for new type-approvals, to avoid the need to re-approve when the requirements of Directive 2001/27/EC for gas engines take effect from 1 October 2003.

Existing type-approvals will not become invalid through the repeal of Directives 88/77/EEC, 91/542/EC and 1999/96/EC as a consequence of this recasting (see Article 9 and Annex XIII (table of correspondence) of the proposal).

8.

4.1.3. Durability of emission control systems - Article 3


Directive 88/77/EEC does not presently include any durability requirements for heavy-duty engines. The heavy-duty engine itself is inherently reliable and, when maintained properly, retains its emissions performance over extremely long periods of use. However, the future emission standards laid down in Directive 1999/96/EC will require the widespread use of exhaust aftertreatment technology to comply with more stringent emission standards.

It is likely that a combination of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) and/or Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) together with a diesel particulate filter (DPF), diesel oxidation catalyst and possibly advanced turbocharging will become common solutions to meet the Euro 4 emission limits. Some engines may meet the requirements using SCR alone.

SCR is expected to be universally used to meet the Euro 5 emission limits, in combination with a diesel particulate filter and diesel oxidation catalyst, but some engines may meet the requirements using SCR alone.

Amongst many criteria, the use of SCR offers fuel efficiency gains over other options such as EGR plus DPF, but, EGR plus DPF does not depend on the use of a chemical reagent to achieve efficient conversion of NOx emissions. The choice of Euro 4 technology by most heavy-duty engine manufacturers seems still to be an open question and the issue of diesel fuel sulphur content is a major factor. Perhaps there will be other, more efficient, technical solutions developed over time. However, at this time it seems that the solutions mentioned above will be used in different vehicle duty-cycle applications for at least the Euro 4 stage. EGR plus DPF is perhaps more likely for urban vehicle applications while a solution involving SCR is likely for long-haul applications.

What is clear is that in the future the emissions performance of the engine will be highly dependent on the aftertreatment system. Hence, requirements for assessing the durability of the emission control system should now be included in Directive 88/77/EEC.

In this respect the Commission is proposing that the useful-life or durability periods for engines to be fitted into category N1, N2, N3, M2 and M3 vehicles be defined as follows, where useful-life is defined as the period of distance and/or time over which compliance with the relevant gaseous, particulate and smoke emission limits has to be assured, as part of the requirements of type-approval for a particular engine type:

- For engines to be fitted into vehicles of category N1, the useful-life period is defined as 100 000 km or five years, whichever is the sooner.

Directives 88/77/EEC and 70/220/EEC allow for the type-approval of category N1 vehicles to one or the other Directive. Therefore, the useful-life period for engines to be fitted into category N1 vehicles should align with the period laid down in Directive 70/220/EEC, as amended by Directive 98/69/EC. In the case of Directive 70/220/EEC, the useful-life period of 100 000 km or five years of use, whichever is the sooner, is applicable from 1 January 2005.

- For engines to be fitted into vehicles of category N2 and M2, the useful-life period is defined as 200 000 km or six years, whichever is the sooner.

- For engines to be fitted into vehicles of category N3 and M3, the useful-life period is defined as 500 000 km or seven years, whichever is the sooner.

The requirement to demonstrate emission compliance over the applicable useful-life period will take affect from 1 October 2005 for new type-approvals and 1 October 2006 for all type-approvals.

Over the years, manufacturers have increased substantially the mechanical durability of heavy-duty engines such that they can be used for many thousands of hours or hundreds of thousands of kilometres before rebuild is necessary. In addition, the annual distance travelled, especially by the heavier heavy-duty vehicles, or long-haul commercial vehicles, has increased significantly such that these vehicles will reach high distances more quickly. Manufacturer's servicing information indicates that the major servicing intervals for heavy-duty engines used in long haul operations are expected to be anything from 250 000 to 450 000 km (10 000 to 18 000 hours use). Vehicles having different duty cycles will generally have different servicing intervals. In-house development targets now approach some 1 million kilometres for engine reliability.

Although the Commission could perhaps justify a very high useful-life period based on how long engines are lasting today without rebuild, the Commission believes that somewhat lower useful-life periods should be specified. Engine manufacturers will have to comply with new emission standards in 2005 and 2008 such that the use of emission aftertreatment systems will be commonplace on practically all engines used on the road. Extremely long useful-life periods could compromise the feasibility of the future standards and limit the number of potential aftertreatment technical solutions which may exhibit other beneficial characteristics such as low fuel penalty or even fuel savings (compared to Euro 3 engines). At this stage the Commission does not see any need to review or modify in the future the useful-life distances being proposed here.

Of course, the end of useful-life does not mean the end of good in-use emissions performance so the provision of OBD (as described in section 4.1.5) and improved annual roadworthiness testing will help to ensure emission control systems continue to operate properly, even when vehicles are in the hands of their second, third or more owners.

Not all heavy-duty engines are used in long-haul commercial vehicles that accumulate distance travelled very quickly. Heavy-duty engines are used in many different types of vehicles that operate solely in urban areas, for example, refuse collection vehicles and some types of buses. Such vehicles accumulate distance at a much slower rate than long-haul commercial vehicles. For example, the Braunschweig city driving cycle which simulates urban bus driving i has an average speed of 22.9 km/h (including idling time) and Commission statistics i show an average distance travelled of some 47 000 km per annum for urban buses.

A useful-life of 500 000 km might therefore, on its own, be excessive because of the slow rates of distance accumulation of such vehicles. However, a useful-life of seven years would seem appropriate in this case. For such urban applications, the duty cycle would be repeated engine running for nearly all of its daily operation and which is also of a relatively low temperature profile that may inhibit adequate regeneration events for a diesel particulate filter or deNOx device.

It is therefore appropriate to cover vehicles that accumulate distance slowly within the 500 000 km or seven years of use, whichever occurs first criteria.

If the technical measures being adopted through comitology to implement the fundamental provisions laid down for durability are delayed beyond the date of adoption of this co-decision Directive (a date of 30 June 2004 is proposed in this Article for adoption of the technical measures via comitology), the transposition date shown in Article 8 i and the application date shown in the second sub-paragraph of Article 8 i of the co-decision Directive should be aligned with that of the comitology Directive. It is essential that both Directives are applied by Member States at the same time.

9.

4.1.4. On-board diagnostic systems (OBD) - Article 4


Technical requirements for OBD applied to medium heavy-duty vehicles are applicable today through specifications that are laid down in the Federal requirements in the United States, but only for vehicles up to 14 000 pounds gross vehicle weight (6 363 kg). There are no requirements for OBD on what are perceived to be heavy heavy-duty vehicles, i.e. those vehicles up to 40 tonnes gross vehicle weight and above.

In Europe, emissions compliance at the time of type-approval is assessed by testing the engine alone (without auxiliaries and the gearbox) whereas in real life an OBD system has to perform its functions on the whole vehicle. The Commission believes it is premature to mandate an all-embracing heavy-duty vehicle OBD concept for emissions control from 2005 because of concerns still to be addressed regarding sensor development and performance for emission aftertreatment devices, especially NOx and ammonia sensors for deNOx devices and particulate sensors (if one is likely to be available) for diesel particulate filters. Hence, it is proposed to deal with heavy-duty vehicle and engine OBD in two stages to allow system development.

First stage of OBD:

The first stage is applicable to new compression-ignition engines seeking type-approval according to the emission limits laid down in row B1 of the tables in section 6.2.1. of Annex I to this Directive. The OBD requirements therefore apply from 1 October 2005 for new type-approvals and 1 October 2006 for all type-approvals. The first stage is also applicable from the same dates for compression-ignition engines seeking type-approval according to the permissive EEV emission limits laid down in row C of the tables in section 6.2.1. of Annex I to this Directive.

For the first stage, it is proposed that the OBD system should monitor the functioning of the engine against fixed threshold limits, as is the case for diesel engine OBD in Directive 70/220/EEC. In addition, any emission aftertreatment system downstream of the engine should be monitored for major functional failure. Requiring only monitoring of the emission aftertreatment system for major functional failure is based on the premise that sensor technology to monitor performance related to excess emissions will not be fully developed for industrial application in 2005. As part of the type-approval, the manufacturer will be required to provide the technical service or type-approval authority with an analysis of potential failures within the emission control system that will have an effect on emissions.

Second stage of OBD:

The second stage is applicable to new compression-ignition engines and gas engines seeking type-approval according to the emission limits laid down in row B2 of the tables in section 6.2.1 of Annex I to this Directive. The OBD requirements therefore apply from 1 October 2008 for new type-approvals and 1 October 2009 for all type-approvals. The second stage is also applicable from the same dates for compression-ignition and gas engines seeking type-approval according to the permissive EEV emission limits laid down in row C of the tables in section 6.2.1 of Annex I to this Directive.

However, in the second stage, the OBD system should monitor the functioning of the engine and the exhaust aftertreatment system downstream of the engine against fixed threshold limits. However, according to the right of initiative of the Commission, the second stage OBD thresholds applicable from October 2008 will be subject to review of the development of sensor and emission control technology.

In this second stage the engine-aftertreatment OBD system will be expanded to cover the vehicle to take account of the inputs received from other vehicle systems that may have an influence on the functioning of the total emission control system.

OBD threshold values are proposed for the emission of NOx and particulate only as these are the two main pollutants of interest for heavy-duty vehicles equipped with compression-ignition engines. Emissions of CO and HC are relatively trivial in comparison with NOx and particulates. OBD threshold limits are proposed for the type-approval of engines complying with the 2005 and the 2008 limits and also for the type-approval of an engine installed in a vehicle complying with the permissive EEV standards. However, as noted above, the 2008 (row B2) and EEV (row C) OBD thresholds will be subject to review.

At this stage it is not possible to define the OBD technical requirements and OBD thresholds for gas-engines. The Commission will bring forward a proposal in this regard at a later date including OBD threshold values for other pollutants relevant to gas engines. However, it is already proposed here that gas-engine OBD be required from October 2008 for new type-approvals, to stimulate OBD system development and also to allow the gas vehicle market to continue to develop in the EU without additional development targets being imposed.

Within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE), discussions are now in progress towards adopting a Global Technical Regulation (GTR) for heavy-duty vehicle OBD. The timetable for having a draft GTR is still some way off (June 2004) and it may be several years before a GTR is actually implemented. However, when that work is finished, appropriate technical amendments will need to be considered to align the European heavy-duty vehicle OBD requirements on a global basis. Where possible, the comitology proposal described in section 4.2.3 should take into account progress in the GTR group with respect to the technical requirements for OBD.

If the technical measures being adopted through comitology to implement the fundamental provisions laid down for OBD are delayed beyond the date of adoption of this co-decision Directive (a date of 30 June 2004 is proposed in this Article for adoption of the technical measures via comitology), the transposition date shown in Article 8 i and the application date shown in the second sub-paragraph of Article 8 i of the co-decision Directive should be aligned with that of the comitology Directive. It is essential that both Directives are applied by Member States at the same time.

10.

4.1.5. Provisions for tax incentives - Article 5


The existing text of Article 3 of Directive 1999/96/EC regarding tax incentives is repeated in a revised format in this proposal and amended to delete reference to row A of the tables in 6.2.1 of Annex I since the emission limit values given in row A are now mandatory for all vehicles covered by the scope of this proposal.

In this proposal, appropriate reference is also made in recitals 11 and 12 to the Articles of the Treaty concerning State Aids granted by Member States.

11.

4.1.6. Implementation measures and amendments - Article 6


Article 6 states that the Commission will adopt the measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive and any future amendments necessary to adapt this Directive to scientific and technical progress through reference to the committee and the procedures established in Articles 13 i and 13 i of the type-approval framework Directive (70/156/EEC).

The comitology proposal will therefore implement the requirements of this co-decision proposal by laying down the procedures for establishing:

- compliance with the useful-life (durability) requirements of Article 3;

- conformity of the in-use emissions performance of an engine. This measure is not specified within this co-decision proposal since, although it will be based on the durability requirements, it is a purely technical issue and therefore a matter for the comitology proposal only;

- the conformity of OBD systems, in line with Article 4. In addition, reference is made here to the issue of ensuring unrestricted and standardised access to the OBD system for inspection, diagnosis, servicing and repairs, commensurate with the measures introduced, or being introduced, in Directive 70/220/EEC and appropriate requirements relating to replacement parts to ensure compatibility with vehicles equipped with OBD systems.

- In addition, the comitology proposal will include the necessary measures to improve the laboratory procedures for the sampling and measurement of particulate mass as a consequence of the low particulate emission limits applicable from 1 October 2005. The comitology proposal will also revise the specifications for the reference fuels used for type-approval testing to better reflect the sulphur content of diesel fuel that will be available on the market from 2005 (in line with the decisions already taken in the regulatory committee with reference to Directive 70/220/EEC).

- Also, the comitology proposal may contain:

- an amendment to the test cycle used for OBD demonstration based on the development of a World Harmonised Duty Cycle (WHDC) and its progress to being a global technical regulation, and;

- an amendment to provide for the use of OBD as an effective in-use conformity checking tool and appropriate requirements for OBD-compatible replacement parts.

- It is also stated that the measures taken with respect to OBD will be adopted with a view to the world-wide harmonisation of the OBD requirements for heavy-duty vehicles and engines (see second last paragraph of section 4.1.4).

12.

4.1.7. Review and reports - Article 7


Several of the reporting tasks laid down in Article 7 of Directive 1999/96/EC remain applicable and are repeated by reference in this Directive. For example, the Commission will continue to review the need to introduce new emission limits for presently non-regulated pollutants, report on the progress of negotiations for a world-wide harmonised test cycle, report on the development of on-board monitoring (OBM) systems and confirm the mandatory NOx emission limit applicable from 1 October 2008 for all new type-approvals.

13.

4.1.8. Transposition - Article 8


The co-decision process should be completed during the first half of 2004. However, the transposition date has to be reflected in the date set for the repeal of Directives 88/77/EEC, 91/542/EEC and 1999/96/EC in Article 9 and also linked to the transposition date set for the comitology Directive mentioned in Articles 3 and 4.

14.

4.1.9. Repeal - Article 9


Directives 88/77/EEC, 91/542/EEC and 1999/96/EC will be replaced by this Directive and these Directives should be repealed from the date of application of this Directive in the Member States. Accordingly, a table of correspondence is given in Annex XI of this proposal.

Type-approvals granted according to Directive 1999/96/EC (as last amended by Directive 2001/27/EC) will remain valid until the implementation of the measures contained within this proposal.

15.

4.1.10. Consolidated technical Annexes


The consolidated annexes of Directives 88/77/EEC, 91/542/EEC, 96/1/EC, 1999/96/EC and 2001/27/EC are included in this proposal except where references to other Directives are updated.

16.

4.1.11. Annex IX


As required in Point 7(c)(ii) of the Inter-Institutional Agreement mentioned in section 1, Annex IX provides a table containing the time-limits for the transposition of the repealed Directives (and successive amending acts) into National laws.

17.

4.1.12. Annex X


As required in Point 7(b) of the Inter-Institutional Agreement mentioned in section 1, Annex X provides a table showing the correlation between the appropriate parts of the repealed Directives and this recast Directive.

18.

4.2. The Proposal for a Commission Directive


As mentioned in section 2 above, there will be two parts to this proposal. This section describes the general content and aims of the second part, or the comitology proposal, which the Commission has already tabled, in part, and will propose more completely in draft form for further discussion in Commission working group(s). After completion, it will be submitted to the regulatory committee for adaptation to technical progress through the procedures that will be laid down in a proposal for a new framework Directive on the type-approval of motor vehicles. The new framework Directive is currently being prepared by the Commission services (as referenced in section 2.1).

The comitology proposal will in effect be an amendment to this co-decision proposal and will contain the following general elements that will be covered according to Article 6 of this proposal.

19.

4.2.1. Durability


The actual durability periods applicable to various vehicle categories are defined in Article 3 of the co-decision proposal. The mechanism for a manufacturer to follow to demonstrate useful life compliance will be proposed as follows.

- Engines will be grouped into engine families, taking account of the definition given in ISO 16185 for engine families.

- For the purposes of durability demonstration, it may be appropriate for engines to be sub-divided into a family based on the type of exhaust aftertreatment system with which the engine is equipped. Such an approach could allow the determination of deterioration factors that are specific to a certain technical design of an exhaust aftertreatment system that is common to a range of engines.

- From such a family of engines, a parent engine will be selected for testing over a service accumulation schedule that will be defined by the manufacturer and agreed by the technical service.

- It is not necessary for the proposal to provide a definition of the service accumulation schedule. The manufacturer will have the flexibility to choose an appropriate service accumulation schedule which may be based on data collected from vehicles in service that are equipped with the parent engine or an engine from that family, or based on a pre-defined engine dynamometer schedule.

- During the service accumulation schedule the engine shall be tested for all regulated emissions over the European Steady [state] Cycle (ESC), European Transient Cycle (ETC) and, if seen to be necessary, the European Load Response (ELR) test cycles. These tests will be conducted periodically during the service accumulation schedule. For an engine equipped with an exhaust aftertreatment system, the service accumulation schedule is proposed to commence after sufficient engine running to ensure that the aftertreatment system has stabilised from new. This is proposed to be up to 125 hours, where requested by the manufacturer. There is no specific end point to the service accumulation schedule. It will be up to the manufacturer to decide how long he needs to run and test the engine to be confident that the emissions performance is not going to drastically change over time so as to be sure that the emission limits will be complied with at the durability period applicable for the engine, and engine family, under test.

- Over the service accumulation schedule, a regression analysis shall be made based on the emissions test results. The projected emissions shall be extrapolated to the start of the service accumulation schedule and to the durability applicable to the type of engine (see Article 3 of the co-decision proposal). On the basis of these two values, deterioration factors are then calculated for each pollutant on each test cycle (ESC for CO, HC, NOx and particulate, ETC for CO, THC, NMHC, CH4, NOx and particulate and ELR for smoke, if seen to be necessary) and recorded in the type-approval documentation.

- It will be proposed that manufacturers who produce engines in small batches may use fixed deterioration factors instead of conducting a service accumulation schedule. Further discussion will be necessary to determine these fixed deterioration factors and also to determine whether all engines, irrespective of production volume, can utilise fixed deterioration factors.

- To rationalise the testing burden associated with the durability demonstration, it should also be discussed whether the deterioration factors determined according to US engine family certification could be accepted for EU type-approval. In addition, it may also be appropriate to include the US Federal Test Procedure (FTP) as a relevant test cycle for emissions measurement during the service accumulation schedule to provide for one single service accumulation cycle appropriate for EU, US and possibly Japanese durability demonstration. However, consideration of these issues will depend on consultations with the authorities in the US and Japan and, in the absence of a common technical standard (or global technical regulation), whether reciprocal recognition of the EU procedures for durability demonstration for engine certification in the US and Japan will be accepted.

- The issue of maintenance is an important criteria that needs to be defined in order that maintenance that is required to be performed during the service accumulation schedule is also the same in real life operation and as advised to the owner of the vehicle. The Commission believes there is a need for some minimum criteria to be laid down in the Directive for major emission-related components in terms of repair, replacement or cleaning intervals.

20.

4.2.2. Conformity of in-service vehicles/engines


The actual durability of a type of vehicle equipped with a heavy-duty engine is defined in Article 3 of the co-decision proposal. The comitology proposal will define the procedures for checking the conformity of in-service vehicles/engines up to those durability periods.

The procedure is based around the requirement for the manufacturer to conduct an audit of the emissions performance of his products in service. A major part of the information to be provided by the audit is emissions test data as measured on the test cycles required for demonstration of useful life compliance, or through the use of mobile emissions measuring equipment fitted to vehicles (see section 4.2.2.1). Records of malfunctions detected by the vehicle's OBD system could also be utilised. The number of vehicles or engines to be tested should depend on the sales volume of the manufacturer. The Commission will not propose specific procedures - the manufacturer should take what steps are necessary to collect relevant emissions data as part of his normal practice to comply with common auditing standards and procedures.

For example, such audit data may be collected through an agreement with fleet operators to test vehicles or engines at periodic intervals. This may require the manufacturer to provide substitute vehicles during the testing. The manufacturer may also choose to run a fleet of representative vehicles within those used by the company under in normal working conditions but also used to collect audit data.

If the technical service does not approve the audit information provided by the manufacturer, he should take action to obtain further information to clarify the situation. Such action may result in the manufacturer having to perform more confirmatory testing or the authority may decide to conduct tests.

It is debatable whether engine testing should ever be enforced, due to the very high expense of taking heavy-duty vehicles from service, removing the engine and performing laboratory emission tests on the engine alone. While such engine testing on a dynamometer is expensive, it is a recognised method for determining compliance with the type-approval. However, one can argue that since such tests are conducted without gearbox or engine-auxiliary items which do have an effect on emissions, engine dynamometer tests are not fully representative for checking in-service compliance of an engine installed in a vehicle in real-world operations.

The technical details of these test stages will be developed during the discussions relating to the preparation of the comitology proposal.

However, at the end of the procedure, if non-compliance has been established, actions that may be taken are laid down in the type-approval framework Directive. A plan of remedial measures to correct non-conformity should be drawn-up and carried out in consultation with the technical service and/or type-approval authority.

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4.2.2.1. International actions


As mentioned in the section above, the use of mobile emission measuring equipment is foreseen to be the most cost-effective method for establishing the emissions compliance of heavy-duty vehicles. The appropriate methods are being developed in various research programmes with respect to on-board emission data collection systems in conjunction with a fully developed procedure for checking emissions in what are termed off-cycle driving events. The US authorities have implemented their not-too-exceed (NTE) requirements for heavy-duty vehicles and a global approach to off-cycle emissions is being considered as a future candidate global technical regulation under the auspices of the UN-ECE World Forum for the Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations (WP29).

For example, there are the West Virginia University Mobile Emissions Measuring System (MEMS) and two systems developed by different parts of the US Environmental Protection Agency - the ROVER system and the Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS). These systems can offer real-world emission measuring capability that should be the primary aim to provide a comprehensive in-use conformity-checking tool. Such technology could be used as part of the manufacturer's audit exercise or for further follow-up testing by the type-approval authorities or technical services.

It is intended that the comitology proposal with respect to conformity of in-service vehicles/engines will aim to adopt a solution based on the use of on-board measuring equipment and, where possible, take into account the global initiative mentioned above. If this is not possible within the time-frame for adoption of this split-level approach, further adaptations to the technical annexes will need to be foreseen to include, for example, the specifications for on-board measuring equipment and test protocols, as these are developed.

Conformity of in-service vehicles and engines is a measure that will only apply to vehicles and engines after October 2005 and when sufficient distance has been accumulated on vehicles to make it worthwhile to test emissions compliance. Delay in the completion of the relevant technical annexes is not seen to be a major concern when a more elegant, effective and global technical solution can be attained.

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4.2.3. On-board diagnostics (OBD)


New requirements will provide the technical means for specifying the OBD system and for type-approving the OBD system.

OBD, as applied to light-duty vehicles, has been used as a model but there are some significant differences between the light-duty vehicle OBD requirements of Directive 70/220/EEC and heavy-duty vehicle OBD described here.

In the first stage, applicable from 1 October 2005 for new type-approvals of compression-ignition engines against the 2005 emission limits or the permissive EEV emission limits, the OBD system should monitor the functioning of the engine against fixed threshold limits (as for light-duty vehicle OBD in Directive 70/220/EEC) and, in addition, any emission aftertreatment system downstream of the engine for what is described as major functional failure. At this stage, monitoring of the emission aftertreatment system for major functional failure is based on the premise that sensor technology to monitor performance related to emissions will not be fully developed for widespread application on heavy-duty vehicles in 2005.

In the second stage, applicable from October 2008 for new type-approvals of compression-ignition and gas engines to the 2008 emission limits or the permissive EEV emission limits, the OBD system should monitor the functioning of the engine and the exhaust aftertreatment system downstream of the engine against fixed threshold limits. However, this will be subject to review of the development of sensor technology. At this stage the engine-aftertreatment OBD system will be expanded to cover the vehicle, to take account of the inputs received from other vehicle systems that may have an influence on the functioning of the total emission control system.

The new requirements will include, but not be limited to:

- OBD definitions;

- OBD test requirements;

- definition of mandatory system monitoring (deNOx, diesel particulate filter, combined deNOx-diesel particulate filter, catalysts, fuel injection system etc);

- criteria for activation and deactivation of the malfunction indicator (MI), and storage and deletion of fault codes;

- fault code storage and enforcement through storage of hours run by the engine with a fault code stored;

- criteria for allowed deficiencies in OBD systems for type-approval;

- criteria for temporary disablement of the OBD system under certain justified engine operating conditions;

- requirements to ensure unrestricted and standadised access tro the OBD system for inspection, diagnosis, servicing and repairs, commensurate with the measures introduced by Directive 70/220/EEC;

- appropriate requirements relating to replacement parts to ensure their compatibility with heavy-duty vehicles equipped with OBD systems.

The new requirements will include the OBD demonstration test. In real use, the OBD system will perform some monitors quicker than others and some monitoring will be carried out over relatively long periods of time over cumulative periods of similar (steady-state) driving conditions. With respect to the test cycle to be used for the OBD demonstration test, it has been shown that while the ETC used for tailpipe emission testing is representative of real use, it does not include sufficient elements of steady-state operation to be confident that complete OBD monitoring will be carried out over that 30 minute test procedure. The ESC used for emission testing has sufficient steady-state operation but is regarded as having too much steady-state operation to be completely representative of the real use conditions in which OBD must operate. Therefore, a short-ESC test purely for the OBD demonstration test has been developed. This test follows the same mode order as the full ESC but has a mode length of 60 seconds compared with 120 seconds for the ESC test cycle.

Council Directive 70/220/EEC i, as amended by Commission Directive 1999/102/EC i, introduced OBD for light-duty vehicles and included necessary references to international standards, for example, ISO 15765 and ISO 15031 for OBD communications on-board the vehicle and between the vehicle and off-board diagnostic tools, diagnostic tools, diagnostic fault codes and the connector between the vehicle and diagnostic tools. Such prescriptions were necessary to provide a standard platform for the diagnostic and repair industries (e.g. independent repairers and roadside organisations).

Similar international OBD standards will be referenced in the new requirements while taking account of the differences between light-duty vehicle and heavy-duty vehicle applications (e.g. different system voltages between light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, connector design to prevent a light-duty vehicle diagnostic tool from being connected to a heavy-duty vehicle having a higher system voltage). However, there are some complications.

ISO 15765 i and ISO 15031-5 i are used by many EU and Asian medium and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers and are derived from the standards developed previously for light-duty vehicles and passenger cars.

SAE J1939 i was developed and is maintained by the heavy-duty vehicle industry through the SAE Truck and Bus Council. SAE J1939 has been employed by US manufacturers since the mid-1990's. Many European and Asian manufacturers also use SAE J1939. SAE J1939 covers a wealth of diagnostic criteria, for example, diagnostic services, diagnostic fault codes, diagnostic lamps, off-board diagnostic connector, data link and monitoring parameters.

While ISO 15765 and ISO 15031 provide a similar level of diagnostic coverage, there are certain technical differences between the ISO and SAE standards. The diagnostic fault codes from an SAE J1939 vehicle system will be fully readable and the diagnostic system fully accessible, but in a different manner to that for an ISO 15765 and 15031 vehicle system.

While a single OBD standard would be desirable, at this time it is not possible to dictate that either the ISO or SAE standard should take precedence, especially in the short timeframe before heavy-duty vehicle OBD becomes mandatory in the EU from October 2005. The cost of requiring the industry to move from ISO to SAE or vice versa could not be justified.

Today, the heavy-duty vehicle repair market is already equipped to deal with SAE J1939 vehicles and it is recognised that the service and repair market for heavy-duty vehicles, at least for the heavier vehicles, is different to that for light-duty vehicles. However, the Commission wishes to ensure that in the future, wherever possible, access to maintain and repair heavy-duty vehicles with OBD systems standardised and is available to all interested parties. Further attention may have to be made to distinguish between the range of light heavy-duty vehicles and heavy heavy-duty vehicles that fall within the scope of this Directive.

Consequently, ISO TC22/SC3/WG1 is already looking at the advantages and disadvantages of requiring the use of using either the ISO or SAE standard or allowing both standards to co-exist. It would seem at this time that the use of both ISO 15765/15031 and SAE J1939 seems possible.

Therefore, in formulating its comitology proposal, the Commission will consider carefully the benefits of the ISO and SAE standards and the recommendations made by the ISO committee with the aim of providing the most cost-effective level of diagnostic capability and standardised access to efficiently diagnose and repair heavy-duty vehicles in the market.

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4.2.4. Other elements of the comitology proposal


The comitology proposal will also amend the test reference fuels contained in Annex IV to provide for 2005 test fuels that are representative of the fuel specifications likely to be available on the market from that date (i.e. with respect to sulphur content). This amendment will therefore take on board, as appropriate, the provisions laid out in Commission Directive 2002/80/EC (amending Directive 70/220/EEC) regarding Annexes IX and IXa.

The proposal will also amend the laboratory procedures for the sampling and measurement of particulates, as requested in indent 3 of Article 7 to Directive 1999/96/EC. This is a consequence of the low particulate emission limits applicable from 1 October 2005 that push the boundaries of the reliability and repeatability of the present particulate gravimetric procedures. Such amendments will take into account the recent ISO 16183 standard and other important work in this area.