EU Commission Accepts 'Flawed' Emission Rules For On-Road Testing

The European Commission is set to accept new emissions rules after a protest against their leniency was rejected by lawmakers.

Earlier this year, members of the European Parliament had rebuffed a proposal to require on-road emissions testing for new vehicles, because it also allowed carmakers to exceed emissions limits.

While that protest against the proposed rules--announced in the wake of the Volkswagen diesel scandal--gained some momentum, there weren't enough votes in Parliament to sustain it.

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The draft motion for a resolution that would alter the proposed rules was rejected by 323 votes to 317, with 61 abstentions.

The new rules may be flawed, but lawmakers believe they will at least provide some greater regulation of emissions testing, said Giovanni La Via--chair of the EU's Envrionment Committee--in a statement.

"A proposal for a long-term reform of the EU approval regime for cars is also on the table, as requested by Parliament," he noted.

The rules will require carmakers to conduct on-road emissions testing alongside laboratory tests, making it harder for them to cheat as Volkswagen did with "defeat device" software in its diesel engines to let engines behave very differently in real-world conditions.

But manufacturers will also get leeway to exceed existing legal limits of nitrogen oxides (NOx) on the new tests into the 2020s.

That's because the revised regulations allow for discrepancies in testing--fairly large ones.

ALSO SEE: EU Regulators Dilute New Emission Rules To Allow 2.1 Times The Legal Limits Until 2020 (Oct 2015)

Beginning in September 2017, automakers will only be required to bring down that discrepancy to a "conformity factor" of 2.1--or 110 percent of the legal limit.

This rule will also apply to every new vehicle certified two years later.

In January 2020, the conformity factor will be tightened to 1.5--50 percent above the legal limit--applying to all new vehicles starting in January 2021.