News
Taxation Task force: The European Commission is currently reviewing the Energy Taxation Directive that it withdrew back in 2015, as the file was blocked in Council, and will publish a revised Energy Taxation Directive probably in Q2/Q3 2020.
Related to UEIL’s objective to prevent the inclusion of lubes under EMCS, certain EU Member States expressed their concern about increased fraud with lubes in Europe and are once again increasing the pressure to include lubes under EMCS. UEIL will continue its outreach to Member States in the coming weeks to express its concern and will propose a new definition of ‘light lubes’ at the request of the Member States.
Finally, the European Commission has decided from 1 January 2020 to set an annual quota of 400 tonnes for Gp II between 150 and 650. UEIL is actively lobbying against this decision as it will have a negative impact on the competitiveness of SMEs, and business figures show there is still a shortage of Gp II in Europe in 2020. The first chance that the quota can be revised is from 1 July 2020.
Technical and Competition Committee: On 22 January 2020, the first Technical Committee of the year took place in Brussels under the new chairmanship of Helga Laporte. The entire Committee would like to thank the previous chair, Ad Van Genderen, for his dedication and work over the last two years.
During the meeting, which is combined with the Competition Committee, several technical and competition cases were discussed and followed up. 27 cases are currently being handled by the two Committees. 67% of these cases concern the automotive sector. The main issue is still access to technical information. Other topics on the agenda included The Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation review.
The following OEM Bulletins have been published: • December 2019 –Hitachi Construction Machinery • January 2020 - PSA
The next meeting will take place on 27 May.
Evaluation of the MVBER The Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER) of 27 May 2010 – which notably defines specific rules regarding the repair of motor vehicles and the distribution of spare parts (including lubricants) – aims, inter alia, to protect the access of spare parts manufacturers to motor vehicle aftermarkets. The MVBER will expire on 31 May 2023.
The European Commission is currently carrying out an evaluation of this Regulation to gather facts and evidence on the functioning of the MVBER, notably by verifying the extent to which its objectives are fulfilled. Depending on its final evaluation, expected in May 2021, the European Commission will or will not consider prolongating the MVBER after its expiry date.
As a result, UEIL set up a Strategy and Action plan to run in parallel to the evaluation, with the goal of maintaining/prolonging the MVBER and, if possible, improving it in order to ensure that all spare parts brands continue to be available to both independent and authorised repairers, as well as to spare part wholesalers.
In practical terms, the review of the MVBER is carried out through four main phases: an evaluation roadmap opened to feedback, a fact-finding study, a public consultation and the Commission adoption of the final evaluation report – expected for Q2 2021.
UEIL already provided feedback on the roadmap, which ran from February to March 2019. Since March 2020, the consultancy Ernst & Young – commissioned by the Commission – is carrying out the fact-finding study by sending a questionnaire to identified stakeholders within twelve EU countries. UEIL provided feedback on the elaboration of the questionnaire and made sure that Ernst & Young will share this survey amongst UEIL members in target countries.
The public consultation will follow the publication of the results of the fact-finding study in August 2020 and should be opened in Q3 of 2020 for a 12-week period. UEIL plans to respond to this and encourage its members to do the same. Furthermore, UEIL is developing a targeted engagement plan with relevant EU stakeholders (responsible units in the Commission, MEPs, etc.) to deliver its messages.
LINK
www.ueil.org
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.156 APRIL 2020
43
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
