Vehicle Emissions [EU]
Emission limits and type-approval rules for non-road mobile machinery
Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 — requirements for gaseous and particulate pollutant emission limits for internal combustion engines
It defines pollutant emission limits for engines of different power ranges and applications for non-road mobile machinery (see below) with the aim of gradually reducing emissions and phasing out equipment with the most polluting engines.
Key Points
Non- road mobile machinery (NRMM) covers a very wide variety of machinery typically used off the road such as:
small gardening and handheld equipment (lawn mowers, chainsaws, etc.);
construction machinery (excavators, loaders, bulldozers, etc.);
agricultural & farming machinery (harvesters, cultivators, etc.);
railcars, locomotives and inland waterway vessels.
The regulation does not apply to engines for a number of specific applications, including those for:
stationary machinery,
sea-going vessels that must have a valid maritime navigation or safety certificate,
recreational vehicles, except snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and side-by-side vehicles,
vehicles and machinery exclusively used or intended to be exclusively used in competitions.
Type-approval
The regulation sets out the procedures engine manufacturers have to follow in order to obtain type-approval* of their engines.
Type-approval is a requirement for manufacturers to place their engines on the European Union (EU) market.
Manufacturers must submit a separate application for each engine type or engine family* to the approval authority of an EU country.
Type-approvals are issued for an unlimited duration.
The EU may decide that international regulations or non-EU country regulations are equivalent to the conditions and procedures for EU type-approval.
National authorities are required to cooperate efficiently with each other and with the European Commission, and to exchange data and information relating to EU type-approvals through the Internal Market Information System (IMI).
Exhaust emissions
The design, construction and assembly of engine types and engine families must comply with the requirements set out in the regulation.
Engine types and engine families must not exceed the exhaust emission limit values from the dates set out in the regulation for placing those engines on market.
Application & Background
It applies from 1 January 2017.
For more information, see:
‘Non-Road mobile machinery emissions’ on the European Commission’s website.
KEY TERMS
Type-approval: the procedure whereby an approval authority certifies that a type of vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit satisfies certain legal requirements.
Engine family: manufacturer’s grouping of engine types which, through their design, have similar exhaust emission characteristics, and respect the applicable emission limit values.
MAIN DOCUMENT
Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2016 on requirements relating to gaseous and particulate pollutant emission limits and type-approval for internal combustion engines for non-road mobile machinery, amending Regulations (EU) No 1024/2012 and (EU) No 167/2013, and amending and repealing Directive 97/68/EC (OJ L 252, 16.9.2016, pp. 53-117)
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System and repealing Commission Decision 2008/49/EC ( ‘the IMI Regulation’ ) (OJ L 316, 14.11.2012, pp. 1-11)
Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.
Regulation (EU) No 167/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 February 2013 on the approval and market surveillance of agricultural and forestry vehicles (OJ L 60, 2.3.2013, pp. 1-51)
Cleaner fuels for road transport
Transport fuels make a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. This law establishes a framework for monitoring and reducing fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions*, thus helping to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Directive 2009/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 98/70/EC as regards the specification of petrol, diesel and gas-oil and introducing a mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and amending Council Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the specification of fuel used by inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 93/12/EEC.
It revises the fuel quality directive (Directive 98/70/EC). It amends a range of elements, including fuel specifications, and introduces a mechanism aimed to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure the sustainability of biofuels.
Key Points
The law requires fuel suppliers to report and reduce the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of energy supplied for road transport. The goal is a reduction of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 6 % (or up to 10 % if the EU country chooses) per unit of energy from fuel supplied by December 2020.
Biofuels should be produced sustainably. In order for a biofuel to count towards the greenhouse gas reductions in this directive, it must fulfil the sustainability criteria, which require biofuels to not be produced on land with high biodiversity value, or to be made from materials with high carbon stock.
Harmonisation of the rules for fuels, setting technical specifications on health and environmental grounds, in particular reducing the sulphur content of diesel and petrol to 10 mg/kg max.
The directive facilitates the blending of bio components in fuel (for example, up to 10 % ethanol in petrol), EU countries must ensure that petrol and diesel placed on the market should comply with the requirements set out in Annex I and Annex II to this directive respectively.
The law requires appropriate information to be given to consumers concerning the biofuel content of petrol and diesel.
Background
Because of substantial progress in vehicle technology and the development and growing availability of biofuels, the European Commission, in 2007, proposed a review of the specifications for fuel quality in Directive 98/70/EC.
For more information, see the European Commission’s webpages on:
fuel quality legislation;
fuel quality monitoring.
Fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions refer to all net emissions attributed to the fuel. In other words, the terms refers not just to emissions caused by combustion, but also by cultivating, extracting, transporting, processing and distributing the fuel.
References
Act
Entry into force
Deadline for transposition in the Member States
Official Journal
Directive 2009/30/EC
25.6.2009
31.12.2010
OJ L 140, 5.6.2009, pp. 88-113