UEIL News
Improving the governance of the automotive industry, shoring up compliance Recently, the European Commission levied its highest penalty in its history for anti-competitive behaviour. The 2.93 Billion Euros fine was levied on five truck manufacturers. One of the involved OEMs went scot free as they reported the cartel to the EU legislators who then granted them immunity. That truck manufacturer in this case was MAN, now wholly owned by the Volkswagen Group. The cartel itself had been in place for 14 years where the OEMs colluded on pricing and on passing on environmental costs to their European customers.
Euro III and IV emission standards for Heavy Duty Vehicles VW shareholders will breathe a sigh of relief that the company escapes this financial hit, where the highest fines (in relation to market share in the 14 year period) falls on the shoulders of Daimler and DAF. The cartel itself was exposed two years ago so there is no direct relation at least to that other scandal effecting the automotive industry at present. It goes without saying that the automotive industry is not exactly a champion sector in Brussels right now. Our message that the automotive industry is facing serious governance challenges is certainly being heard by the European Commission and European Parliament members who are currently reviewing the European Whole Vehicle Type approval system. The main drive of this review is to ensure that the conflict of interest which often exists between type approval authorities as well as technical services and OEMs going forward, is ruled out for eternity.
The re-cast of the type approval regulation and its specific reference to repair and maintenance clauses, poses a great opportunity for our industry to shore up the compliance of the automotive industry on making technical information available in a timely and affordable manner. The stars are aligning to make some changes in this regard and to improve the compliance of the automotive industry with their legal obligations that have been in place since 2007 (for cars) and 2009 (for trucks). UEIL will be working hard to improve the RMI (repair maintenance improvement) provisions in the type approval regulation in the next few months and thus improve compliance of OEMs going forward. Watch this space in other words.
Taxation
In September the Commission published its draft proposal to include all lubes in bulk under EMCS. Member States had 14 working days to provide their response to this proposal. If there is a qualified majority at Member States level for the Commission proposal, the proposal needs to be implemented at national level within 18 months.
The UEIL position is against this draft proposal and we have increased our outreach activities (sent a position paper to all Fiscal Attaches of the 28 EU Permanent Representations and set up many bilateral meetings) to secure a blocking minority. If we do not achieve a blocking minority the second best preferred solution for UEIL is to include only ‘light’ lubes under ECMS instead of all lubes in bulk.
Technical & Competition Committee The Technical Committee has jointly issued with the Competition Committee two OEM Bulletins since the last Newsletter: • BMW Long-life Engine Oils Approval Process - 2nd Version - June 2016
• Liebherr Hydraulic Oils - July 2016
The Technical Committee is currently investigating: • Industrial - 1 Case • Off Highway - 7 Cases • PCMO - 8 Cases • HDDO - 0 Cases • 2 Stroke - 2 cases
The next Technical Committee meeting will be held in Brussels in January 2017.
REGISTRATIONS OPEN! UEIL 2016 ANNUAL CONGRESS The UEIL 2016 Annual Congress of the European Lubricants’ Industry is upon us!
This year’s congress promises to be one of the best ever! • Berlin’s easy reachability from other European countries • Germany being a great driver of the lubricants’ industry • The great programme we are putting together
All of these (and many more) factors will ensure a great turnout at this year’s event. Why not showcase your company’s work? Take a look at the currently available sponsorship opportunities on the UEIL website! For more information on any of the above, contact us:
info@ueil.org.
LINK
www.ueil.org
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.135 OCTOBER 2016
57
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