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Document 52013DC0214
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the application of Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the application of Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the application of Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles
/* COM/2013/0214 final */
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the application of Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles /* COM/2013/0214 final */
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the application of Directive 2009/33/EC
on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles Introduction This is the first
report on the application of Directive 2009/33/EC of 23 April 2009 on the
promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles[1] (“Clean Vehicle Directive”), and
on supporting actions taken by Member States, as required by Article 10 of this
Directive. Directive 2009/33/EC has only been in force
for a short period of time, with implementation in a number of Member States
beying delayed considerably. In addition, the absence of reporting obligations
for Member States and the inconsistencies in the data available, made the
analysis difficult. Thus this report can provide only a limited qualitative
analysis, and that mostly on the basis of case studies. Detailed material is
provided in a study prepared for the Commission[2]. The Clean Vehicle Directive aims at stimulating the market for clean and energy-efficient
vehicles, thus contributing in the transport sector to the energy, climate and
environment policies of the EU. The deadline for transposition
was set for 4 December 2010. The Directive applies to vehicles purchased by contracting authorities and contracting entities
as defined by the public procurement Directives[3], and to public transport operators as defined by the
Regulation on public passenger transport service[4]. The Directive requires that lifetime operational energy consumption, emissions of carbon dioxide
(CO2), and emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx),
non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) and particulate matter (PM) are taken into account.
Thereby, the Clean Vehicle Directive
has introduced for the first time
sustainability obligations into public procurement law for the whole EU. The
Directive gives two options for taking account of energy and environmental impacts:
The first one is setting technical
specifications for the performance of the vehicles with respect to energy and
environmental impacts. The second option gives the opportunity to use these
impacts as award criteria. The
Directive defines a methodology
for calculating lifetime operational costs for energy consumption, CO2
emissions, and pollutant emissions of vehicles. This
monetisation approach internalises external costs of transport, a long-term
objective of EU policy. This gives an advantage to more
energy efficient and cleaner vehicles and accelerates their market penetration,
both conventional internal combustion engine and alternative fuel vehicles. 1. Implementation
of the Clean Vehicle directive in the Member States The deadline for
the transposition of the Directive was set for 4 December 2010. Only three
Member States fulfilled this obligation by that date. The Commission had to initiate
infringement proceedings against those Member States that did not fulfil this
obligation. At the time of drafting this report all ongoing infringement procedures
have been closed upon transposition by the respective Member States. However, there is
still one Member State left which has not yet fully transposed the Directive
into national legislation. This Member State, Latvia, is still in the process
of completing its transposition. An overview on the evolution of the transposition
process is given in Table 1. Table 1: Overview of the transposition
process of the Clean Vehicle Directive in the Member States || Member State || National transposition || Action taken by the Commission Date set in the Directive: 4 December 2010 || Czech Republic Denmark, Portugal || September 2010 December 2010 || n/a 2011 || Lithuania Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Spain Romania France, Germany, Poland, Malta || February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 || 27.01.2011: Letter of formal notice sent to 13 EU Member States due to non-communication of national measures (Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland and Romania) Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden UK Belgium, Estonia || June 2011 July 2011 October 2011 || 16.06.2011: Reasoned opinion sent to 10 EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom) 25.11.2011: Reasoned opinion sent to Finland due to absence of measures relating to the Province of Åland 2012 || Austria Slovenia Finland Latvia || February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 2013 (planned) || 22.03.2012: Commission decision to refer Finland to the EU Court of Justice (closed after notification of integral transposition by Finland) In most cases, the
process of transposition involved amendments to existing public procurement
acts, rather than adoption of new legislations. Several Member States have also
prepared guidance documents related to the implementation of Directive 2009/33/EC
or intend to prepare such documents. No exemptions as
provided for under Article 2 of this Directive were reported from the Member
States. To facilitate
implementation of the Clean Vehicle Directive, the Commission opened an
internet portal on 30 March 2009, the date of the adoption of the Directive by
the Council of Ministers. The portal provided further explanations of the
Directive. It also included a calculator for monetising
energy, CO2 and pollutant costs as well as information on related
policies and measures in the Member States. A more
elaborate Clean Vehicle Portal[5] was subsequently opened on the transposition of Directive 2009/33/EC
in order to facilitate its application. This portal provides the available data
for the calculation of lifetime costs for all vehicles on the market. It
facilitates joint procurement to help bundling purchases of vehicles to achieve
economies of scale with larger volumes. The portal also informs on public
procurement legislation and specific programmes and incentives for the purchase
and operation of clean and energy efficient vehicles, at EU level and in the
different Member States, at national, regional and local levels. 2. supportng
Actions taken by Member States Many Member States
have implemented additional measures in support of the development of a market
for clean and energy efficient vehicles in recent years, which have contributed
to the same objectives as the Clean Vehicle Directive. These measures include
incentives and support for clean vehicles by public authorities, as well as
measures that stimulate the purchase and use of clean and energy efficient
vehicles indirectly, such as selective access restrictions and local demand
management differentiating through environmental criteria, and vehicle taxation
measures. Where access
restrictions are in place, vehicles usually have to adhere to a required
standard/emissions level or other criteria to gain entry to the market. So
whilst aiming to improve environmental conditions in a localised area, the benefits
may also become more widespread if the uptake of clean and energy efficient
vehicles is stimulated as a result. Demonstration projects, such as those
supported by the CIVITAS Initiative, could potentially promote best practices
and interest in clean and energy efficient vehicles for the public sector,
particularly where benefits are realised. The provision of
appropriate refuelling/recharging infrastructure is of key importance when
aiming to increase the purchase and use of clean and energy efficient vehicles
relying on alternative fuels/technologies. A lack of consumer confidence in the
availability of alternative fuels can prohibit their uptake. The importance of this
aspect is highlighted in the Commission proposal for a Directive on the
deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure[6]. The provision of
refuelling/recharging infrastructure varies greatly between and within Member
States and should be better harmonised to take full profit of the internal
market for a broad uptake of clean and energy efficient vehicles using
alternative fuels as tackled by the Clean Power for Transport communication of
the Commission[7]. 3. Application
of the options foreseen in the Clean Vehicle Directive The majority of
Member States have retained all the different options provided by Article 5 (3)
of the Clean Vehicle Directive,
when transposing this Directive into national legislation. This allows public
authorities to include the energy and environmental impacts of vehicles in
procurement procedures by setting either technical specifications or including
the impacts as award criteria. In the latter case, these impacts can also be
monetized. The main reasons given
by the Member States to retain all of the options provided by Article 5 (3) of
the Clean Vehicle Directive were
to enable greater flexibility for the purchasing authority, to give the
purchasing authority the ability to use the options best suited to their
procurement needs and to enable the most appropriate options according to local
circumstances. Only Slovenia, which exclusively allowed the energy and environmental
impacts to be used as award criteria, the Czech Republic, which did not permit
the use of the monetisation option, and Sweden, which did not create a
possibility for the energy and environmental impacts to be used as award
criteria, limited these options for reasons of simplicity or consistency with
the existing national approach. An overview on the application of the Directive
is given in Table 2. Table 2: Application of Article 5(3) in EU Member States Action taken by Member State on Article 5(3) || Member States Allow all of the options || 24 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria. Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom Allow only option 1 (i.e. set technical specifications for the energy and environmental performance of vehicles) || - Allow only option 2a (i.e. where energy and environmental impacts are used as award criteria) || Slovenia Allow only option 2b (i.e. where energy and environmental impacts are monetised) || - Options 1 and 2a) || Czech Republic Options 1 and 2b) || Sweden At the national level, Germany provided
anecdotal evidence as to the options that are most commonly used by purchasing
authorities (all options foreseen are currently possible under the legislation transposed
in Germany), with Option 1 considered to be the one selected the most, followed
by Option 2a. It was noted that Option 2b was probably the least used, mainly
due to difficulties regarding its application. Contacts from the city of Hamburg supported this view, stating that to date they have only used Option 1,
mainly due to its easy applicability. In Copenhagen, all of the options
have been used by the public transport authorities, and they reported good
experiences with each of them. Bologna has used Options 2a and 2b, but
evidence relating to positive or negative experiences of these methods is not yet
available. Slovenia has used the methodology for operational lifetime costs,
although it was considered that there was a lack of information regarding
emissions performance. Representatives from Copenhagen, Bologna and Slovenia are all yet to form an opinion as to whether the options should be retained or
amended. Ghent uses both the technical specifications and award criteria
options (i.e. options 1 and 2a). For the former, the technology that the
vehicle to be procured should have is the only one to be specified (based on a
review of the vehicles on the market), while for the award criteria, vehicles
have to meet a minimum environmental performance. In Stockholm,
Directive 2009/33/EC allows for a continuation of the approach previously used
within the city, which effectively sets technical specifications, i.e. it is
only possible to procure vehicles that respond to the national definition of a
clean vehicle. Representatives of Ghent and Stockholm considered that,
respectively, additional guidance was needed in relation to using energy and
environmental impacts as technical requirements and that a rebalancing of the
factors used in the monetisation option was needed. London, Vienna and Romanian public transport operators all specify the environmental
standards with which vehicles to be purchased have to comply, while Barcelona estimates the life cycle costs of the vehicle along with other factors. The majority of Member States were of the opinion
that all options should be retained. This was largely due to the limited
experience they have had with Directive 2009/33/EC since its transposition. And
namely the lack of assessments undertaken to date to determine the impacts of
this Directive, including on the market development of clean and energy
efficient vehicles. Some Member States also pointed out that national systems
differ across the EU, so retaining the choice between options will be important
so as not to disadvantage certain Member States. With regard to whether any of the options
should be amended, Member States felt again that limited experience with
Directive 2009/33/EC prohibited them from suggesting ways in which the options
could be improved at this stage. Further experience and assessment of impacts
would be required in order to do so. Specific guidance
on the application of the different options of Directive 2009/33/EC and on the
relative weightings to be given to its provisions has only been prepared by a few
Member States, such as the Netherlands, Latvia, Denmark, France and the UK. 4. Impact
of the Clean Vehicle Directive The assessment of
the impact of Directive 2009/33/EC was heavily hampered by the absence of
reporting obligations for Member States, and aggravated by the lack of
comprehensive data, both on the side of procurers as on the side of
manufacturers. No consistent data collection has been found on the performance
regarding energy efficiency, CO2 and pollutant emissions of the
vehicles purchased under the terms of this Directive. Implementation of
Directive 2009/33/EC in a number of Member States much later than the initially
scheduled transposition date also prevented any major impact of this
legislation to be expected at this early stage. Assessments on the
expected impact of the Clean Vehicle Directive were carried out only in a few
cases. With regard to the potential estimated impacts of the options provided
for in its Article 5(3), very few Member States have undertaken an assessment.
In the UK, an impact assessment for the transposing legislation was undertaken,
but regarding the Directive in its entirety and not on the specific options. It
concluded that there would be EUR 27 million worth of economic benefits associated
with the implementation of this Directive in the UK. However, due to the belated
transposition process and the lack of feasible post-implementation data there
are no conclusive impact assessments concerning the actual post-transposition
impact yet. A number of Member States had existing
‘green’ public procurement requirements relating to the procurement of vehicles
prior to the introduction of Directive 2009/33/EC. Therefore the impact of this
Directive has been minimal on the existing situation. However, it was
acknowledged that it is possible that public bodies will benefit from having
the criteria for procurement formalised, and those Member States who did not
previously have any existing criteria are expected to benefit. Many cities in the
EU have established policies with the view to procure cleaner and more energy
efficient vehicles. These policies have contributed to emissions reductions
from public vehicle fleets in these cities. They have often been driven by the
need to meet EU air quality standards. With the Clean Vehicle Directive in
place, more cities are expected to clean up their vehicle fleets, using the
options offered by this Directive. Manufacturers
indicated that more public authorities have been evaluating life time costs and
impacts of vehicles, rather than just focusing on purchasing costs. In this
respect, Directive 2009/33/EC seems to lead to a change in attitude, which
could have a more significant impact on procurement decisions of public
authorities and public transport operators in the longer term. However, with regards to the wider impacts,
it was felt that it would be extremely difficult to assess the impacts of
Directive 2009/33/EC as similar anticipated impacts can also have been
stimulated by other policy measures. Although the market for low emission
vehicles is expanding, it is difficult to attribute this to the implementation
of this Directive, and it is more likely to be due to other factors (including
technological developments, other EU legislations, national vehicle taxation
policies, market conditions, existing government incentive schemes etc.). Many Member States mentioned how public
procurement activity relating to vehicle (and other sectors) had been low in
recent years – many have very few funds available to renew vehicle
fleets/service contracts as a result of consequences of the global recession. A further factor that may have an impact on
the purchase decisions of public authorities and private stakeholders are high
petrol/energy prices as mentioned by one Member State. It is being estimated
that such considerations could be generally applicable. Total costs of
ownership are, in some cases, important in purchase decisions (particularly for
heavy duty and fleet vehicles), which in part could be exerting pressure on vehicle
manufacturers to increase their clean vehicle range and offers. The lack of common
procedures on the measurement of CO2 emissions of heavy duty
vehicles was a barrier to applying Directive 2009/33/EC to such vehicles. A
specific calculation methodology has therefore been provided on the Clean
Vehicle Portal. Additionally, the International Association of Public Transport
(UITP) and the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) worked
together to agree on how operators and procurers could apply the provisions of
the Clean Vehicle Directive in bus tendering. Similar collaboration could be
undertaken for other types of heavy duty vehicles. As of 2013, all
heavy duty vehicle engines will be tested according to the "Worldwide
Harmonized Heavy-Duty Transient Cycle" as defined under the auspices of
the UNECE. As stated by the final report[8]
of the respective working group, the objective of the initial research
conducted was the development of a worldwide harmonised engine test cycle for
engine exhaust emissions. This tool will be used for measuring air pollutant
emissions, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. These measurements
will support a wider application of the monetisation option of the Clean
Vehicle Directive. No evidence of
technology selection was found to date, thus confirming the completely technology-neutral
approach of this Directive. 5. Replication
of the Clean Vehicle Directive Approach The Clean Vehicle
Directive has been part of a gradual shift in EU policy to a more proactive and
consistent inclusion of environmental requirements in EU procurement and
product legislation. Approaches similar to the Clean Vehicle Directive on
including lifetime operational impacts on resources and environment have been
taken in some other sectors, such as buildings, electric appliances, or office
equipment, for a number of years. Such initiatives, along with increasingly
clean and energy efficient vehicles, will play an important role in meeting the
EU 2020 target of a 20% improvement regarding the EU's energy efficiency. The development in procurement legislation towards a
cost-effectiveness approach, such as life-cycle costing, has been generalised
in the proposal of the Commission of 20th December 2011 for a
revision of the existing Directives on public procurement[9], in particular in Article 66 on contract
award criteria and Article 67 on life-cycle costing. The changes that the
proposed revised framework includes should lead to a more consistent
consideration of environmental criteria in public procurement decisions in the
EU. While no evidence was found on Directive 2009/33/EC directly
influencing the approach taken in the private sector in relation to the
procurement of clean and energy efficient vehicles, examples of the private
sector procuring more energy efficient vehicles were nevertheless found.
However, it is important to note that the procurement of energy efficient
vehicles by the private sector is only one element of fleet management.
Procuring such vehicles can lead to a reduction in the costs of managing a
fleet, particularly where the lifetime costs of an energy-efficient vehicle are
less than those of conventional vehicles. However, other elements of
energy-efficient fleet management include maximising loads, reducing empty
running and eco-driving. Consequently, many firms with large fleets, e.g.
courier companies such as DHL, TNT and UPS, manage their fleets to reduce
energy consumption, and thus emissions. For such companies, managing their
vehicles fleets in such a way makes economic sense, in addition to responding
to wider environmental concerns, including those of their customers. It is
possible to identify various good practice examples with respect to clean fleet
management that have been undertaken globally. In Finland the approaches set out in
Directive 2009/33/EC have been taken up within the private sector. The
procurement advice produced in relation to the implementation of the Clean
Vehicle Directive has also been disseminated to large private buyers, such as
company car buyers, which is important as almost one fifth of new cars sold in Finland are company cars. 6. Conclusions Belated transposition of the Clean Vehicle Directive by most Member
States has limited the experience with this Directive to date and has therefore
provided challenges for the assessment of its impacts within the scope of this monitoring
report. This situation is further aggravated by the absence of reporting
obligations for Member States. Additional guidance appears necessary for the application of the
different options of the Directive in order to take into account energy
consumption, CO2 and pollutant emissions when procuring vehicles.
There is also the need to support the still novel monetisation approach. Member
States should provide this guidance, paying particular attention to their
relevant national legislation. Dedicated training for staff responsible for
implementing the relevant national legislation should also be taken into
account. The Clean Vehicle Portal is considered a useful tool in assisting
public authorities with the procurement of clean and energy efficient vehicles,
and concerning the prevalence of the experience acquired under this Directive. The
Commission will upgrade the Clean Vehicle Portal to respond to the expectations
of public and private procurers. Additionally, the
functionality in relation to the stimulation of joint procurement of clean and
energy efficient vehicles on the Portal will be improved, including the better
facilitation of close contacts between the relevant national and regional
authorities in the EU 27 and beyond. This is expected to help build up market power for clean and energy
efficient vehicles more rapidly so that industry can profit from economies of
scale and offer more competitive products. More attention to private customers
can also enhance the impact of Directive 2009/33/EC, following the original
objective of initially addressing the public sector directly, and subsequently reaching
out to professional and private procurement. Various stakeholders, such as the EU industry associations, could
develop guidance, as the International Association of Public Transport (UITP)
has done, for their respective members in order to increase awareness of this
Directive. The Commission launched a European Electro-mobility
Observatory (EEO) in December 2012[10],
which will ensure collection
and dissemination of key statistical data on electromobility (battery electric
and fuel cell electric vehicles) in a consistent manner by regional and local
authorities. The EEO should become the main information platform of European
regions on electromobility. It should also provide information on how public
procurement at the local level influences the development of electric vehicles
or fuel cell electric vehicles market in Europe. In the next review of the Clean Vehicle Directive scheduled for 2014,
the Commission is planning to assess thoroughly the value added of the
Directive. In this context the Commission may consider the possibility of
simplifying the application of this Directive by streamlining it. This could be
done by narrowing choices on Member State level for example by focussing on the
simplest approach with regard to calculations to be carried out. This would
prevent a possible fragmentation of the internal market through different
technological selections. It could then provide better conditions for economies
of scale for innovative vehicle technologies through bundling demand within the
internal market. Clear reporting obligations
could also be imposed upon the Member States. [1] Directive
2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on
the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles, OJ L 120/5
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:120:0005:0012:en:pdf) [2] http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/vehicles/directive/index_en.htm
[3] Directive
2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council coordinating the
procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport
and postal services sectors; Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council on the coordination of procedures for the award of public
works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts [4] Regulation
(EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October
2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road [5] http://www.cleanvehicle.eu/ [6] COM(2013) 18 final [7] COM(2013) 17 final [8] http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2001/wp29grpe/TRANS-WP29-GRPE-42-inf02.pdf [9] COM(2011) 896 [10] http://www.hyer.eu/publications/newsletters/hyer-update-december-2012/hyer-signs-european-electromobility-observatory-contract