LeX-Ray

Directive 2005/55/EC is one of the separate directives under the type-approval procedure laid down by Directive 70/156/EEC.

Directive 2005/55 requires new heavy-duty engines and engines of new heavy-duty vehicles to comply with new technical requirements covering on-board diagnostic systems, durability and conformity of in-service vehicles which are properly maintained and used, from 1 October 2005. The technical provisions necessary to implement Articles 3 and 4 of that Directive should be adopted.

In order to ensure compliance with Article 5 of Directive 2005/55, it is appropriate to introduce requirements encouraging the proper use, as intended by the manufacturer, of new heavy-duty vehicles equipped with engines having an exhaust after-treatment system requiring the use of a consumable reagent to achieve the intended reduction of regulated pollutants. Measures should be introduced to ensure that the driver of such a vehicle is informed in good time if any on-vehicle supply of a consumable reagent is about to run out or if the reagent dosing activity does not take place. If the driver ignores such warnings, the engine performance should be modified until the driver replenishes the supply of the consumable reagent required for the efficient operation of the exhaust after-treatment system.

Where engines within the scope of Directive 2005/55 require the use of a consumable reagent in order to achieve the emission limits for which those engines were granted type-approval, the Member States should take appropriate steps to ensure that such reagents are available on a geographically balanced basis. Member States should be able to take appropriate steps to encourage the use of such reagents.

It is appropriate to introduce requirements that will enable the Member States to monitor and ensure, at the time of the periodic technical inspection, that heavy-duty vehicles equipped with exhaust after-treatment systems requiring the use of a consumable reagent have been properly operated during the period preceding the inspection.

Member States should be able to prohibit the use of any heavy-duty vehicle equipped with an exhaust after-treatment system that requires the use of a consumable reagent in order to achieve the emission limits for which such vehicles were granted a type-approval if the exhaust after-treatment system does not actually consume the required reagent or if the vehicle does not carry the required reagent.

Manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles equipped with exhaust after-treatment systems requiring the use of a consumable reagent should inform their customers how such vehicles should properly be operated.

The requirements of Directive 2005/55 relating to the use of defeat strategies should be adapted to take account of technical progress. Requirements for multi-setting engines and for devices that can limit engine torque under certain operating conditions should also be specified.

Annexes III and IV to Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuel and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC ( 3 ) require petrol and diesel motor fuels for sale throughout the Community to have a maximum sulphur content of 50 mg/kg (parts per million, ppm), from 1 January 2005. Motor fuels with a sulphur content of 10 mg/kg or less are increasingly available throughout the Community and Directive 98/70/EC requires such fuels to be available from 1 January 2009. The reference fuels used for the type-approval testing of engines against the emission limits specified in row B1, row B2 and row C of the tables in Annex I to Directive 2005/55/EC should therefore be redefined in order to better reflect, where applicable, the sulphur content of the diesel fuels that are available on the market from 1 January 2005 and that are used by engines with advanced emission control systems. It is also appropriate to redefine the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) reference fuel to reflect progress in the market since 1 January 2005.

Technical adaptations to the sampling and measurement procedures are necessary to enable the reliable and repeatable measurement of particulate mass emissions for compression-ignition engines that are granted a type-approval according to the particulate limits specified either in row B1, row B2 or row C of the tables in section 6.2.1 of Annex I to Directive 2005/55 and for gas engines that are granted a type-approval according to the emission limits specified in row C of table 2 in section 6.2.1 of that Annex.

Since the provisions concerning the implementation of Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2005/55 are adopted at the same time as those adapting that Directive to technical progress, both types of measures have been included in the same act.

In view of the rapid technological progress in this area, this Directive will be reviewed by 31 December 2006, if necessary.

Directive 2005/55 should therefore be amended accordingly.

The measures provided for in this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for Adaptation to Technical Progress established by Article 13(1) of Directive 70/156/EEC,