ACEA requests 6-month postponement of EU emission standards

6 July 2020

ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) has published a letter it sent on 18 June 2020 to the European Commission, requesting a 6-month postponement of key EU emission standards for light-duty vehicles and for heavy-duty engines due to the Covid-19 impacts on the auto industry.

Specifically, ACEA requested a postponement of Euro 6d TEMP deadlines for heavy vans and ambulances (currently 1 September 2020), Euro 6d ISC‐FCM (in-service conformity - fuel consumption meters) for passenger cars and light vans (currently 1 January 2021), Euro VI Step E for trucks, and the EU general safety regulation (clusters A and B).

ACEA provided two reasons for the emission standard postponement:

• Vehicle stock build‐up—The shutdown of production and sales imposed by member states to fight Covid‐19 has caused a significant build‐up of stocks at manufacturers, importers and dealers. These vehicles meet current emission standards, but not the new standards that will enter into force in the coming months. In total, ACEA estimated that 600,000 produced vehicles will not meet Euro 6d ISC‐FCM while nearly 40,000 vehicles will not meet Euro 6d TEMP. As sales had to be stopped, it is uncertain when these vehicles will be sold.
• Type approval backlog—Many manufacturers have not been able to have their vehicles certified for meeting the new emission standards due to the disruption in the type approval process caused by government restrictions. ACEA estimated that about 2,100 emission system type approvals are still pending for vehicles already meeting Euro 6d ISC‐FCM. Obtaining these, together with the subsequent whole vehicle type approval, will easily take 6 months, ACEA said in the letter. Without postponement of the application dates, manufacturers will face a choice between stockpiling newly produced vehicles until the type approval process is completed and stopping (or not re‐starting) production.

ACEA noted that other governments have postponed various emission requirements due to the COVID‐19 situation. These include the Chinese government who postponed the entry into force of the new particle number limit values for light‐duty vehicles in the China 6 emissions legislation by 6 months, and the Japanese government who decided to postpone the date to switch from emissions and CO₂ tested on cycle JC‐08 to WLTP for existing models by three months.

Last month, the European Commission decided to prolong the existing end‐of‐series arrangements for nonroad mobile machinery.

Source: ACEA