The Gillard Labor Government will impose strict new emissions standards on all new cars, 4WDs and Utes sold in Australia, action which will lead to cleaner skies and reduce the nation’s public health bill by more than $1.5 billion over the two decades.

The tougher standards target the pollutants responsible for the formation of smog over our major cities and health problems such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Once fully implemented in 2018, the new laws will cut a new car’s maximum allowable emissions of:

• Hydrocarbons by up to 50 per cent;


• Oxides of nitrogen by up to 70 per cent; and


• Particulate matter by up to 90 per cent.

The full implementation timetable is attached.

Over time the new standards will lead to cleaner, healthier skies.

While the air quality in our cities has improved significantly in recent years, the continuing growth in the number of vehicles on the road means we must remain vigilant and where possible deploy new, more effective technologies.

For example, Sydney still records as many as 20 high pollution days a year and in most years exceeds the national goals for ozone.

There will of course be a cost associated with this decision, particularly in the case of diesel vehicles. But this is more than offset by the public health benefits and the industry has indicated its willingness to embrace the challenge.

Importantly, we’ve listened to the manufacturers and gone with an implementation timeframe which strikes the right balance between minimising the cost to consumers while maximising the public health benefits.

The European Union has started implementing these tougher standards and similar regulations are already in place in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea.

The full analysis is at: www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment.

A separate process is currently underway on the development of new CO2 emission standards for introduction in 2015.

ADR Implementation Timetable


Euro 5/6 Standards for Light Vehicles ¹

1. The implementation dates in the table apply to new vehicles in all 4 wheeled light road vehicle categories (Gross Vehicle Mass of 3.5 tonnes) and all fuel types.


2. The implementation dates applicable to “new models” mean that from 1 November 2013 (for example) any new model (type) first produced with a date of manufacture after 1 November 2013 must comply with the new standard.  For “all models” a 1 November 2016 date (for example) means that all new vehicles (regardless of the first production date for that particular model) must comply as of 1 November 2016.


3. The “core” Euro 5 requirements which apply in ADR79/03 (Phase 1) would require compliance with all the technical requirements of UN ECE Regulation 83/06 except that ADR79/03 would:
   
   
   
   • allow the provision of PM mass emissions data based on the previous ECE R83/05 (Annex 4) Type I test procedure (with a PM mass emissions limit of 0.005g/km) in lieu of data collected under the revisedtest procedure (Annex 4a of ECE R83/06) which specifies a limit of 0.0045g/km);
   
   
   • accept a relaxed OBD threshold limit (80mg/km) for PM mass for M and N category vehicles of reference mass >1760kg;
   
   
   • not require compliance with the PM number limit specified for diesel vehicles in ECE R83/06;
   
   
   • not require the NOx monitoring for petrol vehicles specified in ECE R83/06; and
   
   
   • only require flex fuel vehicles to meet the Type VI test when tested on petrol.
   
   
   
   


4. Details of requirements for flex fuel vehicles to meet the Type VI test under ‘full’ Euro 5 all models and Euro 6 at low temperature to be determined by 31 December 2011.


5. The Euro 6 vehicle emissions standards and limits have been finalised in the European Commission (EC) Regulation 692/2008 (with the exception of the particle number standard for spark ignition petrol engines).However the equivalent version of UN ECE Regulation 83 has not yet been prepared to adopt the emissions limits specified for Euro 6.Once ECE Reg 83 is amended to adopt the Euro 6 emissions limits, the new ADR79/05 (Phase 3) will be determined (published) with the implementation dates indicated, unless there are unanticipated and significant changes from the current Euro 6 requirements in EC Reg 692/2008 which would impact on compliance timelines.