UK Government launches consultation on EU 'Cars and CO2' proposals
Fri 11 July 2008
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The Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, has launched a consultation on European measures to introduce compulsory carbon targets for new cars. The series of papers, published on the Department for Transport website, set out the Government's views on the proposed EU regulation on new car CO2 emissions.
The Government does not expect final decisions to be made on this issue before the end of the year at the earliest. However, it says: "discussions and negotiations at the EU level will continue over the intervening period and the UK will need to remain actively involved in this process".
The Government says it has been carrying out informal and ongoing consultation with key stakeholders since before the Commission's proposal came out last December. A letter accompanying the consultation announcement says:
"The UK strongly supports a move to mandatory CO2 targets for new cars. We would like to see a strong environmental outcome, whilst avoiding unfair competitive distortions between car manufacturers. We have been pushing strongly at the European level for a longer term target of 100g/km by 2020 to also be added to the regulation. We support the Commission's approach for setting CO2 targets for individual car manufacturers, and we also welcome the proposed derogation for manufacturers who only sell cars in small volumes. We believe that it is also important to add a provision to the regulation to ensure that 'niche' manufacturers (those that only make a narrow range of vehicle types) are not unfairly penalised."
This is a formal three month consultation and the deadline for responses is Friday 3 October.
In a Parliamentary Question connected with this issue from the LibDem's Transport Spokesman, Norman Baker MP (citing a possible derogation for Jaguar and Land Rover with respect to the EU proposals), the Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "The UK is not seeking a derogation for any one specific automotive manufacturer. The UK position is that manufacturers that only produce a narrow range of products, while still being subject to challenging mandatory targets, should not be unfairly disadvantaged as compared to their competitors who produce a wider range of vehicle types."
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