On 10 July the European Parliament backed an amendment to the Stage V regulation (EU) 2016/1628 by 653 votes to 17. The revised regulation will take effect retroactively from 1 July. It will be adopted automatically into UK law and applies to transition engines in the power categories below 56kW and equal to or above 130kW. The revision delays the relevant deadlines for building machines installed with transition engines from 30 June 2020 to 30 June 2021 and for placing those machines on the market from 31 December 2020 to 31 December 2021.
The CEA says this outcome comes after a painstaking lobbying process by a task force of European manufacturers' organisations, including the Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) and the European federations for materials handling (FEM), garden machinery (EGMF) and agricultural equipment (CEMA).
The CEA adds that it identified the issue in March when the initial problems with hold-ups in the supply chain caused by Covid-19 were reported. Reduced time working and factory closures at OEMs followed within the next few weeks when it became certain that not all pre-Stage V engine stocks could be incorporated within completed machines by the end of June.
CEA chief executive, Rob Oliver comments: "The original rules meant that even if manufacturers had engines ready and waiting to be installed unless they could be incorporated into the fully assembled machines by the deadline they would have to be scrapped. Our senior technical consultant Dale Camsell did a great job as part of the industry team that worked with the European Commission and European Parliamentarians to navigate the intricacies of EU decision-making."
Oliver says that several official European forums had to be persuaded of the urgency of the problem and the fact that a postponement would not compromise the environmental objectives of the emission regulations.
He adds that the extension has saved manufacturers across Europe significant sums at a time when businesses have been "knocked sideways" by Covid-19."
Oliver says the experience with engines in the mid-power bands may not be the end of the story. The deadlines for transition engines in the power categories 56kW to 130kW remain unchanged at 30 June 2021 and 31 December 2021. Industry representatives and the European Commission will be tracking the effect of Covid-19 on production and markets over the next few months to determine whether these deadlines need to be revisited.
