Friday

29th Mar 2024

Paris, Brussels, Madrid challenge new car emission limits

  • Traffic in Madrid. According to the Spanish capital, the EU should not have given car companies extra leeway on emission limits (Photo: Mallol)

The cities of Brussels, Madrid, and Paris will face off against the European Commission on Thursday (17 May), as they seek to annul the EU legislation that eased car emission limits.

The three cities all suffer from high levels of dangerous nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, caused in part by diesel vehicles.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • "The citizens of Paris and cities around the world demand clean air to breathe," said Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris. (Photo: Joe deSousa)

In front of the Court of Justice of the EU they will contest the new Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test – not because of its increased accuracy in measuring emissions, but because its introduction was accompanied by an easing of permitted levels.

However, ultimately their effort could result in the legal basis for the test being entirely derailed – creating a legal vacuum.

The RDE test was introduced in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal, which saw diesel cars being approved which were 'clean' during the laboratory test, but actually emitted much more pollutants in daily on-road use.

But while the new test measures NOx emissions more accurately, carmakers were given more leeway to pass it.

Under the previous test, national authorities were only allowed to certify cars for the market if their NOx emissions remained below 80 milligrammes per driven kilometre (mg/km).

In October 2015 however, EU member states decided to allow a limit of 168 mg/km until 2020 under the new test – a result of heavy lobbying by the car industry.

"The citizens of Paris and cities around the world demand clean air to breathe," said Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, in a statement published on Tuesday.

"It would be a betrayal of the people of Europe that car manufacturers and industrial lobbies can dictate the rules that regulate some of their most polluting products. … We need the European Union to support us, not give regulatory protection to air pollution," added Hidalgo.

The three capitals' basic argument is legalistic: they argue that the European Commission did not have the legal authority to make the decision.

The procedure used to introduce the RDE test was the comitology method, which mostly excludes the European Parliament.

The original NOx emissions limits were adopted in the so-called 'co-decision procedure' – in which the European Parliament has equal footing with the Council of the EU, where member states meet.

In an internal paper dated 16 June 2015, the commission itself questioned the legality of its move to introduce such a transition period for the car industry.

The note, written by Daniel Calleja, director-general at the commission's internal market and industry department at the time, has been seen by EUobserver.

It said introducing the RDE test in two phases, whereby during the first phase the EU would be less strict, would conflict with the legislation on the so-called Euro 6 emissions standards already in place.

Calleja wrote in 2015 that an "appropriate legal justification" for relaxing the emissions standards during a transition phase "still need[ed] to be developed".

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the parliament did have an opportunity to voice opposition to the new regulation.

In February 2016, MEPs were given the opportunity to veto the bill – which they did not.

Another reason for not annulling the RDE regulation would be that it would thus create a legal vacuum.

The RDE test has been mandatory for carmakers seeking approval to sell their cars in the EU since September 2017.

It is unclear what would happen if the test's legal basis suddenly ceased to exist.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us