The Non-Road Mobile Machinery (Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants) (Amendment) Regulations 2006

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Non-Road Mobile Machinery (Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/1053) (“the 1999 Regulations”). They implement the provisions of European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/26/EC. That Directive amends Directive 1997/68/EC on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery, so as to impose new emissions limits on certain types of engine already covered by Directive 1997/68/EC and to extend that Directive’s scope to include engines installed in inland waterway vessels, locomotives and railcars.

Regulation 4 amends provisions of the 1999 Regulations which determine the engines to which the 1999 Regulations apply.

Regulations 5 and 17 insert new provisions into the 1999 Regulations so as to deal with compression ignition engines separately from spark ignition engines.

Regulation 5 inserts new regulations 3A, 3B and 3C of the 1999 Regulations which apply to compression ignition engines only and which make provision as to the limit values for emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants.

The inserted regulation 3A of the 1999 Regulations introduces the Tables that appear as Schedule 8 to the 1999 Regulations (inserted by regulation 17) and sets out how the Tables apply. It explains how to determine which category a compression ignition engine falls into and how to determine the limit values that apply to emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants from the engine. This depends on the type of engine, the non-road mobile machinery into which it is installed and the power output of the engine (or its swept volume per cylinder for inland waterway vessels). The limit values that apply then generally depend on the date when the engine is placed on the market by reference to the periods specified in column 3 of each entry in the Tables in Schedule 8.

The inserted regulation 3B of the 1999 Regulations sets out the requirements that a compression ignition engine must meet before it can be placed on the market. It also introduces Schedule 9 to the 1999 Regulations (also inserted by regulation 17) which specifies the circumstances in which engines which do not comply with some or all of those requirements may nevertheless be placed on the market.

Paragraph 15 of the inserted Schedule 9 refers to engines which meet certain requirements established in the framework of the Mannheim Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine. Information relating to the Convention can be obtained from the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Palais du Rhin, 2, Place de la République, 67082 Strasbourg, France (telephone number: 00 33 (0)3 88 52 20 10 and email address: [e-mail]).

Where the requirements imposed by inserted regulation 3B of the 1999 Regulations include the need for a type approval certificate from the UK competent authority, inserted regulation 3C of the 1999 Regulations specifies the requirements that must be met before the certificate will be issued. For these purposes, the limit values that apply to a particular engine depend on the date when the application for a certificate is made by reference to the periods specified in column 5 of each entry in the Tables in Schedule 8.

Regulations 6 to 15 include a number of amendments that carry through the separate treatment of compression ignition engines and spark ignition engines. Certain provisions of the 1999 Regulations revoked by these amendments are reproduced, for spark ignition engines, in regulation 6A of the 1999 Regulations (inserted by regulation 9) and, for compression ignition engines, in Schedule 9 to the 1999 Regulations. In addition, regulation 11 excludes certain engines from regulation 7A of the 1999 Regulations, regulation 12 makes a number of amendments to take account of the fact that Directive 1997/68/EC applies to the European Economic Area and regulation 13 contains amendments consequential on amendments to the 1999 Regulations which are made by regulation 5.

Regulation 16 prohibits the Secretary of State from issuing a Declaration of Compliance with the technical requirements applying to inland waterway vessels laid down in Directive 82/714/EC in any case where the engine or engines installed in a vessel do not comply with Directive 1997/68/EC.

A copy of the regulatory impact assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Department for Transport, Zone 2/15, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DR. Copies have been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.

A copy of the Transposition Note is also available from the Department for Transport.

Copies of the Regulatory Impact Assessment and of the Transposition Note may also be accessed on the HMSO website www.opsi.gov.uk.