Letter to Consultees

Dwight Lobban
Assistant Policy Adviser
Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles Division 3
Department for Transport
Zone 1/34
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR

Direct Line: 020 7944 2097
Fax: 020 7944 2512
Email: dwight.lobban@dft.gsi.gov.uk

Web Site: www.dft.gov.uk

Our Ref: CFV 2/8/2

18 April 2008

Dear Sir or Madam

Consultation on the annual update of emissions standards for MOT testing

Your comments are invited on a proposed update of the booklet, "In-Service Exhaust Emission Standards for Road Vehicles - Fourteenth Edition" from the previous (Thirteenth) edition. The changes are contained in the new draft Annex to the booklet, which sets emissions limits for petrol cars and light commercial vehicles equipped with advanced emissions control systems during MoT and roadside testing.

Background

Updating the booklet would require slight amendment of Schedule 7B of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 to refer to the Fourteenth Edition.  The updated booklet would become effective on 1 August 2008. In accordance with European Directive 96/96/EC, emissions requirements in the booklet are based on information provided by manufacturers, where available, and are model specific.

Purpose of the updates

The aims of these changes are to:

i) Include requirements for models which have come onto the market since  publication of the previous edition in August 2007.
ii) Revise information on a small number of existing models to reduce the risk of erroneous test failures.

The new requirements are contained in the new draft Annex to the booklet which is available from the Department for Transport website at www.dft.gov.uk under "Consultations". Section I of the Annex contains details for petrol-engined passenger cars, whilst Section II covers other petrol-engined vehicles. If you would like a paper version of the draft Annex, please contact me at the above address.   

The draft retains information for most existing vehicles, but for a small number of models, identification data and specifications have been revised. There would be no increased costs to motorists and industry as a consequence of these amending changes.

Responses

If you have any comments on the revised Annex, these should be sent to me at the e-mail or postal address above by 3 June 2008. 

A list of organisations/stakeholders that we have sent this consultation to is included in Appendix A. If you have any suggestions of others who may wish to be involved in the consultation process please let us know.

This consultation has been produced in accordance with the principles of the Government’s "Code of Practice on Consultation" which is included at Appendix B. Ministerial approval has been given for a shorter consultation period of 6 weeks as substantive informal consultation with motor manufacturers has already occurred.  However, we hope that manufacturers will use this opportunity to recheck data on their models for accuracy.

A summary of responses to this consultation will be published on our website: www.dft.gov.uk after the consultation period has closed.

According to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (2000), all information contained in your response to this consultation may be subject to publication or disclosure. This may include personal information such as your name and address. If you want your response or your name and address to remain confidential, you should explain why confidentiality is necessary. Your request will be granted only if it is consistent with Freedom of Information obligations. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your e-mail system will not be regarded as binding on the Department.

Yours faithfully,

Dwight Lobban