Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-15-Speech-1-202"
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"en.20081215.18.1-202"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me, first of all, offer my heartfelt thanks to the rapporteur, Mr Groote, for his dedicated collaboration in relation to this proposal.
We are dealing with an important regulation that represents a decisive step in the introduction of globally harmonised stipulations for the emissions of pollutants from heavy-duty vehicles and buses. I would like to talk about something that Mr Groote made reference to, namely that we are doing this against the backdrop of an incredibly severe slump in the European Union’s commercial vehicles market, as the market in commercial vehicles has been much worse hit than is the case for passenger vehicles. This fact is less noticed by the public as most people do not buy heavy-duty vehicles. Nonetheless, it does have enormous economic consequences and this situation is a great concern for the Commission. In light of this too, it is important to provide manufacturers with legal certainty and a clear regulatory framework so that they know what is expected of them. That is why this Euro VI standard is already being decided now, at a time when the Euro V standard has practically just entered into force.
This Euro VI proposal was drawn up in conjunction with the Clean Air For Europe, or CAFE, programme and the thematic strategy on air pollution. In connection with this strategy, further reductions of pollutant emissions are required in the area of road traffic in general and in other areas in order for the EU to meet its targets on improving air quality. We want to keep the harmful effects on people’s health to a minimum and to protect the environment better in general.
The limit values under the Euro VI standards, which form part of this overall strategy, are significantly reducing the emissions of soot particles and of nitrogen oxides once again in comparison with the Euro V phase, which entered into force on 1 October this year. One absolute innovation is the introduction of a limit value for the quantity of particulates emitted, thus monitoring the output of the ultrafines fraction emitted from the engine. In addition, further stipulations on the monitoring of emissions from heavy commercial vehicles in real driving conditions and on access to repair and maintenance information are being introduced. This corresponds to the stipulations that we have already put in place in the regulations governing light commercial vehicles.
The adoption of this proposal is also important because it will realise several important recommendations from the Cars 21 process. First of all, there is ‘better lawmaking’: the proposal takes account of the positions of those affected, as ascertained through a public Internet consultation. In addition, the technical stipulations are based on a cost-benefit analysis on the basis of a duly performed impact assessment. Then there is a considerable simplification of the applicable law. Once the proposal applies to all new vehicles, six previous legal acts will be rescinded. Thirdly, there is global harmonisation. A new testing and measuring methodology is to be introduced which has been developed by the UNECE in Geneva, while the limit values for particulates and nitrogen oxides will now be the same as those applying in the United States.
The close cooperation between Parliament, the Council and the Commission was a critical factor in the success of the negotiating process and worked outstandingly well. I am particularly grateful to the rapporteur in this regard. The Commission is happy to endorse all the compromise amendments tabled by the rapporteur. I am also happy to issue the declaration requested by the rapporteur, and, in fact, I will even make it a little bit better than he had asked for.
‘The Commission declares that the technical measures implementing the regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on type-approval of motor vehicles and engines with respect to emissions from heavy-duty vehicles (Euro VI) and on access to vehicle repair and maintenance information will be transmitted to the European Parliament and the Council under the regulatory procedure with scrutiny before 31 December 2009.’"@en1
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