UEIL News
ATI Campaign: Member States head towards agreement on type approval Following to the vote on the proposed type approval regulation in the European Parliament’s plenary session in April, Member States progressively increased the pace of the negotiations to come to an agreement at Council level as soon as possible. With only few working party meetings ahead, the Council presidency hopes to find an agreement by the end of May. The European Commission puts pressure on the legislators in order to deliver results quickly, as Dieselgate cast dark clouds over Europe’s car manufacturing sector.
In the midst of the legislative process, UEIL made its voice heard as representative of the lubricants industry and one of the key players in the automotive aftermarket. The provisions in the current proposal do not offer sufficient guarantees for independent market actors in the lubricants industry to obtain the necessary repair and maintenance information from OEMs in a timely manner. During its meetings with key MEPs and Member States’ representatives UEIL made clear that serious malpractices exist and will continue to exist if the proposal will not oblige OEMs to provide the necessary information before the vehicle is placed on the market. A number of Member States explicitly support UEIL in its call for fair competition and free choice on the automotive aftermarket. The uptake of amendments inspired by UEIL’s narrative will depend on these Member States’ willingness to defend them in the last debates at Council level in May.
In the comings months the trilogue negotiations between Commission, Parliament and Council will generate opportunities for UEIL to reach out to all negotiating parties again to persuade them of the importance of having free and fair market conditions for independent operators.
REACH review postponed The European Commission is expected to publish its report on the second five-year evaluation on the Reach Regulation in October this year, 4 months later than planned. The report on the parallel review on the regulatory fitness of European chemicals legislation, excluding REACH, will be postponed until February 2018. The Commission was expected to publish both reports by 1 June. Reason for the delay would be due to “internal procedures”. UEIL responded to the REACH consultation back in January, and a consultancy is currently preparing a summary of the responses.
UEIL is particularly interested in the REACH review as it must ensure that borates are kept out of candidate list for inclusion under the REACH regulation. The current review is an opportunity for UEIL to highlight the excessive burden placed onto SMEs in the lubricants sector and call for simplification. The 2017 report of the Commission will take the form of a Communication to announce a number of recommendations for future activity and, possibly, upcoming legislation.
Brexit In March UK Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, and will thereby start the 2 year negotiations leading to the UK leaving the EU. On the EU side, the institutions start to gear up for the upcoming negotiations. The European Commission adopted its draft negotiating directives for the negotiations, based on the political guidelines which were unanimously agreed by the European Council at the end of April. These are due to be adopted on 22 May by the General Affairs Council thereby authorising the formal opening of the negotiations.
Around the same time Theresa May called for a general election on 8 June in the UK. Stakeholders in the debate hope that the election will lead to more clarity in relation to the upcoming Brexit negotiations, as prolonged uncertainty could indeed be harmful for the political and economic relationship of European Union and the United Kingdom.
Brexit-related changes to the existing European Single Market could have a negative impact on the competitiveness of both EU and UK lubricant industries, as well as the wider industry. The European Single Market indeed provides for a high level of economic and regulatory integration for our industry. This level of integration is reflected in how it has strategically set up its business operations in terms of supply chains, production sites and distribution networks.
On the regulatory side, the UK’s departure from the European Single Market could result in e.g. a EU Regulation on type approval no longer applying to the United Kingdom. Potentially, this means that type-approval certificates issued by the UK’s national type approval authority VCA may no longer be valid in the EU. Such a situation would not only affect vehicle manufacturers and customers, but also the automotive aftermarket overall and hence needs to be avoided.
During the negotiations, both parties around the table will have to come to a solution that works for both the EU and the UK. UEIL is watching the negotiations closely, and calls for a pragmatic approach which would entail the best possible outcome for the lubricants industry in order to guarantee a smooth access for its goods and services from and to the EU.
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LUBE MAGAZINE NO.139 JUNE 2017
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