The European mobile machinery industry welcomes the European Parliament vote on Stage V transitional provisions to address the impact of COVID-19 crisis

Last Friday 10^th July, the European Parliament adopted a text extending by 12 months the Stage V transition deadlines for certain categories of engines to be fitted in non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) and tractors. The vote paves the way for the final adoption and publication in the Official Journal of the amended version of Regulation (EU) 2016/1628.  

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The European industry associations representing the NRMM sector, namely CECE, CEMA, EGMF, EUnited Municipal Equipment & Cleaning, Europgen and FEM, warmly welcomed the European Parliament support. Commenting on the vote, CEMA Secretary General Jérôme Bandry said: “The Parliament’s vote was vital to prevent further economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to our manufacturing industries and protect thousands of qualified jobs that depend on them.”

The amended legislation provides an important measure to mitigate some of the most significant disruptions in the sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and delivers long-awaited legal certainty on the most urgent deadlines of 2020. In response to a joint industry request in March, the European Commission tabled a proposal in June to postpone the 30th June and 31st December 2020 deadlines for the production and placing on the market of NRMM fitted with <56kW and ≥130kW transition engines.

CEMA Secretary General Jérôme Bandry continued: “Neutral from an environmental perspective, this measure will not soften the stringency of the European legislation. Instead, it will give our industry the necessary time to install transition engines, already acquired, in machines, place them on the market and be compliant with ever more demanding requirements. On the opposite, inaction would have led to unnecessary waste of raw materials and resources, in addition to the financial costs.”

The NRMM sector welcomed retroactive application of this legislative amendment, providing the necessary legal certainty to manufacturers. This was made necessary by the delayed decisions by the European Commission in presenting the legal proposal and a slight delay in the adoption phase.

Finally the sector calls on the Commission to continue to monitor the effect of COVID-19 on the industry and conduct a timely assessment of this impact, submitting a new report to Parliament and undertaking new legislative actions as appropriate.