The proposals for a Stage III to amend Directive 97/68/EC on non-road mobile machinery exhaust emissions continue to be a topic of major concern to the CEA. A CEA position paper and fact sheet were discussed at the last General Technical meeting and will soon be published. The CEA line broadly follows that of the Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE), which is to have two further stages - a Stage III and a Stage IV. The main aims of these are to:

• Harmonise requirements with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as soon as possible.
• Reduce gaseous emission limits for Stage III to harmonise with US EPA Tier 3 trailing by one year.
• Reduce particulate emissions for Stage IV to harmonise with US EPA Tier 4, taking into account the availability of sulphur-free fuel.
• Agree new requirements to have staggered introduction dates for different engine bands, as before.
• Achieve timescales of five years between Stages II and III and four years between Stages III and IV, to allow stable introduction of successive stages.
• Retain the stock clearance rule and ensure that flexibility arrangements are acceptable.

As well as these issues, after treatment technology for off-road use has to be proved and engine test methods must be appropriate for off-road use. The CEA will be following all these issues and closely following the uncompleted Commission research study on emissions for off-road machinery.

MACHINERY DIRECTIVE

Under the current Spanish Presidency, the Council of Ministers has met on numerous occasions to discuss the proposed revision of Directive 98/37/EC. A consolidated draft proposal is expected by the end of June and an agreed text by the end of 2002.

Key issues being discussed are the definition of partly completed machinery, what constitutes a safety component, the large number of amendments proposed by the European Parliament, retaining self-certification, resisting Commission powers to make subsequent changes and maintaining paragraph numbers (if not, standards and manufacturers’ technical documentation have to be changed).

The CEA position paper is being prepared and is expected to broadly follow the Orgalime position, which has been amended by CECE comments that seek to clarify the definitions of machinery.

The DTI and the HSE are taking the line that "if it ain’t broke don’t fix it". The CEA would prefer to go further than this and seek a delay in revising the Directive until more has been learnt about how the current version operates. However, there will be a revision of the Directive and the CEA must concentrate on securing a good outcome for the products supplied by members.

In October 2000 the HSE proposed to introduce separate requirements in the UK. However, following the CEA view on seeking to retain a level playing field in Europe and several meetings with the HSE, it was agreed the best way forward was through changes to ISO 5006. The CEA has now agreed and submitted comments on ISO 5006 to the BSI and these have been approved and presented at the ISO meetings in Warsaw. Results are awaited. Meanwhile, it has been reported that HSE Inspectors are still requiring more and, in some cases, prohibition notices have been issued.

NON-COMPLIANT IMPORTS

The surveillance exercises being undertaken by the UK and Netherlands governments are making progress. Initial indications have shown some discrepancies but the results are far from conclusive. The CEA will be seeking clarification when the full results are available.

Germany, Greece, Italy and Portugal have not yet transposed Directive 2000/14/EC. The CEA is still following up allegations that Germany is seeking to over-regulate. Twenty six notified bodies have been appointed throughout the member states. Surprisingly, Germany (8) and Italy (3) contribute 11 to this total. About 1,500 declarations of conformity have been received by the Commission (as at April 2002) but about 500 are said to be incorrectly prepared. Industry anticipates difficulties in meeting Stage II of the Directive in 2006 - especially for skid steer loaders. CECE has set up a small group to collect noise data for earthmoving machinery, to assess the difficulties and to provide evidence to the Commission.

VIBRATION
The Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 21 May 2002. It comes into force when published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, probably during June or July.

The CEA was successful in its lobbying of the European Parliament, along with other industry groups it alerted, particularly in achieving the Common Position limit value for whole body vibration of 1.15 m/s2 rather than Parliament’s proposed value of 0.8 m/s2. This was one of many potentially damaging proposals that the CEA influenced by frequent meetings with, and input to, the HSE - and by lobbying MEPs.

The Directive will be enforced by HSE legislation from 2007 for new machines and from 2010 for equipment bought before 2007. The HSE is now beginning to carry out consultations with Trade Unions and other groups and is inviting comments from anyone. A formal Consultation Document is expected in the summer of 2003. HSE updates can be found on www.hse.gov.uk.

NOISE
The Common Position on this Physical Agents Directive was also challenged by the European Parliament. However, following successful lobbying by the HSE, the CEA and other industry groups, the latest information is that the text will not hold any terrors for CEA members. Under the co-decision procedure, Council and Parliament are expected to adopt the Directive by mid-2002. Member states will then have three years to transpose the Directive, which will come into force in 2005. HSE updates can be found on www.hse.gov.uk.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON TECHNICAL MATTERS CONTACT:

Bill Osborne - CEA Technical Officer - bill@admin.co.uk
OR
Tim Faithfull - CEA Director of Member Services - tim@admin.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1883 334499 - Fax: +44 (0)1883 334490