(1)

The internal market comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital must be ensured, and to that end a Community type-approval system for motor vehicles is in place. The technical requirements for the type-approval of motor vehicles with regard to air-conditioning systems should be harmonised to avoid the adoption of requirements that differ from one Member State to another and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market.

(2)

A growing number of Member States intend to regulate the use of air-conditioning systems in motor vehicles as a consequence of Council Decision 2002/358/EC of 25 April 2002 concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder (3). The Decision commits the Community and its Member States to reduce their aggregate anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol by 8 % compared to 1990 levels in the period from 2008 to 2012. The uncoordinated implementation of these commitments carries the risk of creating barriers to the free movement of motor vehicles in the Community. Therefore it is appropriate to lay down the requirements to be fulfilled by air conditioning systems fitted to vehicles in order to be allowed on the market and to prohibit from a certain date air conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than 150.

(3)

Emissions of hydrofluorocarbon-134a (HFC-134a), which has a global warming potential of 1 300, from air-conditioning systems in motor vehicles are of growing concern because of their impact on climate change. Cost-effective and safe alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon‐134a (HFC-134a) are expected to be available in the near future. A review should be carried out to establish, in the light of progress in potential containment of emissions from, or replacement of, fluorinated greenhouse gases in such systems, whether this Directive should be extended to other categories of motor vehicle and whether the provisions concerning the global warming potential of these gases should be amended, taking account of technological and scientific developments and the need to respect industrial product planning timescales.

(4)

In order to ensure that the prohibition of certain fluorinated greenhouse gases is effective, there is a need to limit the possibility of retrofitting motor vehicles with air-conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than 150 and to prohibit filling air-conditioning systems with such gases.

(5)

In order to limit the emissions of certain fluorinated greenhouse gases from air conditioning systems in motor vehicles it is necessary to establish limit values for leakage rates and the test procedure for the assessment of leakage in air conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than 150 which are fitted to motor vehicles.

(6)

In order to contribute to the fulfilment of the commitments of the Community and its Member States under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and Decision 2002/358/EC, Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases (4) and this Directive, which both contribute to the reduction of emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases, should be adopted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union simultaneously.

(7)

Any manufacturer of vehicles should make available to the approval authority all relevant technical information regarding the installed air-conditioning systems and the gases used in them. In the case of air conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than 150, the manufacturer should also make available the leakage rate of these systems.

(8)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (5).

(9)

This Directive is one of the separate directives of the EC type-approval procedure which was established by Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (6). Consequently, Directive 70/156/EEC should be amended accordingly.

(10)

Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to control the leakage of the specific fluorinated greenhouse gases in the air-conditioning systems fitted to vehicles and to prohibit from a certain date air-conditioning systems designed to contain fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential higher than 150, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States acting alone and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of this Directive, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(11)

In accordance with paragraph 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making (7), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables which will, as far as possible, illustrate the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public,

1.

‘vehicle’ means any motor vehicle falling within the scope of this Directive;

2.

‘vehicle type’ means a type as defined in section B of Annex II of Directive 70/156/EEC;

3.

‘air-conditioning system’ means any system whose main purpose is to decrease the air temperature and humidity of the passenger compartment of a vehicle;

4.

‘dual evaporator system’ means a system where one evaporator is mounted in the engine compartment and the other in a different compartment of the vehicle; all other systems shall be considered ‘single evaporator systems’;

5.

‘fluorinated greenhouse gases’ means hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) as referred to in Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol and preparations containing these substances, but excludes substances controlled under Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on substances that deplete the ozone layer (10);

6.

‘hydrofluorocarbon’ means an organic compound consisting of carbon, hydrogen and fluorine, and where no more than six carbon atoms are contained in the molecule;

7.

‘perfluorocarbon’ means an organic compound consisting of carbon and fluorine only, and where no more than six carbon atoms are contained in the molecule;

8.

‘global warming potential’ means the climatic warming potential of a fluorinated greenhouse gas relative to that of carbon dioxide. The global warming potential (GWP) is calculated in terms of the 100 year warming potential of one kilogram of a gas relative to one kilogram of CO2. The relevant GWP figures are those published in the third assessment report adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001 IPCC GWP values) (11);

9.

‘preparation’ means a mixture composed of two or more substances at least one of which is a fluorinated greenhouse gas. The total global warming potential (12) of the preparation shall be determined in accordance with Part 2 of the Annex;

10.

‘retrofitting’ means installing an air-conditioning system in a vehicle after it has been registered.