News
Sustainability Committee Update In February 2022, the UEIL Sustainability Committee launches its dedicated Sustainability section on the UEIL website! The section showcases the industry’s efforts made towards sustainable development since the establishment of the UEIL Sustainability Committee in 2019. The webpage has been created with the intention of providing guidance to define, develop, measure and improve sustainability in the European lubricants industry, to address misconceptions on the industry’s sustainability capacities, and to take part in the ongoing discussions on sustainability at EU and international level.
Visit
www.ueil.org/sustainability/ to find out more about the European lubricants industry’s sustainability mission, events around the sector dedicated to sustainable development, updates and sustainability initiatives of member organisations and companies, including organisation reports and example case studies. In addition, the white paper section provides valuable insights into the Committee’s ongoing work. If you or your company wishes to contribute to the lubricant industry’s sustainability journey, or have any questions or comments, please contact The UEIL Secretariat at
secretariat@ueil.org.
Technical & Competition Committees Update The Technical and Competition Committees continue to make progress on a number of cases. OEM Bulletins on Kubota, VW and Audi have been recently issued.
On the advocacy side, the Committees have continued to engage with the European institutions regarding the evaluation of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER). As previously reported, the evaluation report on the MVBER was published by the European Commission on the 28th of May. The next step is for the Commission to decide whether to let the current MVBER regime lapse by 31 May 2023, renew it or revise it. The Committees are drafting a new letter to the Commission urging them to maintain the MVBER but also to make some amendments (as outlined in the position paper). Through concrete examples, this letter aims to
40 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.167 FEBRUARY 2022
make clear to the Commission that anti-competitive behaviour (notably regarding access to technical information) is a real problem which needs to be addressed in a revised MVBER.
Regarding the discussions about a new draft Delegated Regulation amending Annex X of Regulation 2018/858 (on approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers), the European Commission is expected to publish a study (specifically on repair and maintenance for electric vehicles and regulatory requirements for spare parts) soon, which could have important implications for an upcoming amendment to this Annex X on access to technical information. UEIL has already obtained in the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1244 that service handbooks have to include technical specifications references regarding fluids (lubricants, break fluids, cooling liquids...). It is a very positive first step. But, we need to go further.
Taxation Taskforce Update The EU co-legislators are currently negotiating the revised Energy Taxation Directive that the European Commission published last year. This revised Directive is important for the lubricant sector to promote a level playing field in Europe.
Furthermore, related to UEIL’s objective to prevent the inclusion of lubes under the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS), certain EU Member States are concerned about increased fraud with lubes across Europe and are once again increasing the pressure to include lubes under EMCS. UEIL will continue its outreach to EU Member States in the coming weeks to express its concern and will discuss with the European Commission the option of a definition of ‘light lubes’ that might be included under EMCS in the near future.
The European Commission has also decided to reduce the quota on GP II to 75K tonnes in the first half of 2022 and to 0 in the second half of 2022. UEIL is lobbying for a higher quota as the demand is higher than the supply in Europe on GP II and for lubricant blenders it is very difficult to change from one producer to another.
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