Assessment of Exhaust Emissions

Kelly Tolhurst Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 General Committees

[Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con)]

It might be helpful to the Committee if I take a few minutes to explain the background to the document and the reasons why the European Scrutiny Committee recommended it for debate. Before a vehicle can be placed on the EU market, it must pass certain safety and environmental tests. Exhaust emissions are determined by a laboratory-based test. However, as it has become apparent that emissions of cars driven on the road, particularly of nitrogen oxide from diesel engines, substantially exceed those measured in a laboratory, a European Commission regulation sought to address that issue towards the end of 2014.

However, Members will undoubtedly be aware that certain vehicle manufacturers have recently been found to have used so-called defeat devices to produce misleading results. The European Scrutiny Committee received an explanatory memorandum from the Government last November indicating that the Commission would be addressing the issue by introducing a further regulation establishing a new procedure for assessing tailpipe emissions under real driving conditions. The Government also said that they supported the proposal, and that the targets being set were achievable and would provide manufacturers with the certainty needed to develop cleaner vehicles.

Despite the absence of any official text for the proposed regulation, the European Scrutiny Committee took the view that as some manufacturers had sought to conceal true levels of vehicle emissions, it was clearly right that the Commission should address the issue. The Committee also considered that the circumstances prompting the need for such action raised a number of important issues about the enforcement of EU legislation in this area. It therefore recommended that this document be debated.

Members may be aware of the latest developments on 3 February, when the European Parliament voted by a narrow majority of 323 to 317 to support the Commission’s proposal. There were 61 abstentions.