EU LEGISLATION UPDATE January 2015

OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIALOGUE

Registration of motor vehicles

FIVA is scheduled to meet with the newly appointed rapporteur for the Registration of Vehicles proposal, Dita Charanzová (ALDE CZ Rep), in early March. The meeting will precede the start of negotiations on the text between the European Parliament and the Council which are due to start later in March. The objective of the meeting is to ensure that the amendments adopted by the Parliament before the May election, and which are designed to remove problems experienced by cross-border buyers and sellers of historic vehicles, are accepted by the Member states (see March 2014 EU issues update).

European Parliament Historic Vehicle Group meeting

The first meeting of the EP Historic Vehicle Group meeting will take place on 5 March. During the meeting, FIVA will detail to members the policy and regulatory issues likely to be relevant to the historic vehicle movement during the coming 5 year parliamentary term. INFORMATION Call for energy policy to boost electric cars A wide coalition of cities and industry and transport associations has called on the European Commission to prioritise transport electrification in its energy policy. The signatories to the letter have argued that a progressive electrification of transport would contribute to the objectives of the policy (which includes the need to secure energy supplies, reduce EU energy consumption, “decarbonise the energy mix” and increase research and innovation) by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, advancing innovation and contributing to energy security by replacing oil with a wide range of electricity sources as fuel. In response, the car manufacturers’ association (ACEA) has warned that an enforced transition could be “both costly and ineffective in terms of CO2 fossil fuel sources. The association has further argued that more coordinated support for electric vehicles and greater deployment of infrastructure is needed, but that it should not be at the expense of other ‘green’ technologies.

Refineries, carmakers slam new French biodiesel law

A French ministerial decision to allow a higher biofuel content of diesel (8% fatty acid methylesters - FAME) has been challenged by ACEA and refineries group FuelsEurope saying it could endanger the supply of high quality fuels across the EU as it could lead to a fragmentation of the EU fuel market if other countries follow suit or introduce different diesel grades. The EU’s Fuel emissions” when nearly half of the EU’s installed power capacity comes from Quality Directive sets a 7% limit for biodiesel in diesel in compliance with the relevant European standard - but it allows member states to permit diesel with a higher FAME content so long as consumers are informed about the fuel’s biodiesel content. The industry groups also urged member states to consider more targeted actions to reach national targets such as introducing higher biodiesel blends for fleets of dedicated vehicles rather than as general market fuels. 

The FIVA Legislation Commission members are: Tiddo Bresters (Chairman), Wolfgang Eckel, Peter Edqvist, Carla Fiocchi, Lars Genild, Adalberto Gueli, Peeter Henning, Johann König, Stanislav Minářík, Bob Owen and Andrew Turner of EPPA works with the Committee.

8 juni 2015