European Union Council officially passes Euro 7 emissions rules into law

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The final step in the decision-making process has been taken, with the legislation set to come into force in 2030.

The Council of the European Union has officially approved the controversial Euro 7 emissions regulations, with the rules set for final sign-off in the coming weeks.

The approval of the Council is the last step in the drawn-out process, and follows the agreement of the European Parliament, as reported by Drive last month.

Once signed-off by the Presidents of the European Parliament and Council and published in the Official Journal of the EU, the rules will be ‘operational’ within 20 days – with timelines set for their real-world rollout.

Euro 7 introduces rules first proposed in 2022 by the EU Commission to reduce emissions – both from the tailpipe and brakes – of new vehicles going on sale on the continent. The legislation also brings into effect minimum requirements on battery life for electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

For cars and vans, the regulation keeps the existing Euro 6 exhaust emission limits – but introduces stricter requirements for solid particles. 

These will come into effect for new types of such vehicles within 30 months and new cars themselves in 42 months. There is also a 30-month deadline for new systems, components or separate technical units to be installed on passenger cars and vans and 48 months for those to be installed on buses, trucks and trailers.

For heavy-duty buses and lorries, Euro 7 imposes more stringent limits for various pollutants – including some that have not been regulated until now, such as nitrous oxide (N2O). The timelines for these vehicles are 48 months for new types and 60 months for new buses and lorries themselves.

The approval by the EU Council follows protests from car makers and some European countries leading to a weakening in the emissions standards, which were previously tipped to effectively kill affordable, petrol-powered city cars.

In March, the European Parliament agreed to new Euro 7 emissions regulations, which are far less stringent than the original version of the standards proposed in 2022 – and come into effect for cars five years later, in 2030 rather than 2025.

It follows backlash to earlier versions of the proposal from various car makers, which argued stricter emissions rules from 2025 would distract their engineering resources from developing electric cars to meet Europe’s 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales.

Car makers said the original Euro 7 proposal would have required additional anti-pollution equipment that would drive up the price of cars – and make it infeasible to sell petrol-powered city cars at a low price while still making a profit.

The proposal was also met with opposition from EU member countries such as Spain and Italy, which are not as well-progressed in the shift to electric cars.

The post European Union Council officially passes Euro 7 emissions rules into law appeared first on Drive.

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