A legal paper was prepared ahead of a plenary vote of all the Member of the European Parliaments (MEPs) in Strasbourg that had been expected to block the new legislation on emissions test procedures. The legal analysis advised that the European Union's proposed 'real driving emissions' (RDE) test limits are illegal under EU laws.
The proposed EU regulations would test emissions under conditions closer to the real world. However, the proposed 'Euro 6' tests would also allow diesel cars to emit more than 50 percent over the mandated nitrogen oxide (Nox) levels.
The European Commission has reached a deal over the new emissions test procedures in October 2015. But the European parliament's environmental committee voted against the proposal in December. The parliament initially set the final vote for the proposal this week, but it delayed the vote until at least the first week of February, as per Reuters.
According to the Guardian, the legal analysis by the environmental law firm ClientEarth said that the proposed emissions test procedures are illegal and should be vetoed by the European Parliament.
The legal analysis advised that the European Commission has taken a political decision to favour the commercial interests of car manufacturers over the protection of the health of European citizens.
ClientEarth's experts said that the exemptions and loopholes in the proposed regulations "run counter [to] the aims and content of the basic regulation as expressed by the Euro 6 limit values".
A Liberal Democrat MEP on the environment committee, Catherine Bearder, also said that the proposed RDE was a political decision and was not a technical one. She said that the MEPs must veto the regulations and demand a stronger proposal, based on the evidence and not on pressure from the car industry.
According to European Parliament News, a proposal to veto the new emissions test procedures was discussed on Monday afternoon and put to the veto at next plenary session. The Environment Committee of the European Parliament argued that MEPs should veto the proposed RDE test procedure as it would undermine the enforcement of existing EU standards.
The proposed new RDE test procedure was designed to make emission tests more realistic, by using a portable device to do the tests on the road. The new emissions test procedure was demanded as the current laboratory based procedure suffers from various loopholes which carmakers exploit to brand their products as cleaner than they really are.
The European Association of Automotive Suppliers that supports the new emissions test procedures argued that proposing a new tighter regulations could take years. But allowing the proposed RDE procedure would at least allow for some progress on vehicle emissions.
