Documents considered by the Committee on 4 December 2013 - European Scrutiny Committee Contents


15 Transport: alternative fuels

(a)

(34647)

5736/13

+ ADD 1

COM(13) 17

(b)

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5899/13

+ ADDs 1-3

COM(13) 18


Commission Communication: Clean power for transport: a European alternative fuels strategy



Draft Directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure

Legal base(a) —

(b) Article 91 TFEU; co-decision; QMV

DepartmentTransport
Basis of consideration Minister's letter of 27 November 2013
Previous Committee Reports HC 83-xxi (2013-14), chapter 8 (20 November 2013) and HC 86-xxxiv (2012-13), chapter 3 (6 March 2013)
Discussion in Council 5 December 2013
Committee's assessment Legally and politically important
Committee's decision Cleared

Background

15.1 These Commission documents, presented in January, proposed mandatory requirements for the build up and coverage of alternative fuels infrastructure for transport and common technical standards for their construction and interoperability. In its Communication, document (a), the Commission evaluated the main alternative fuel options that could replace oil as the primary fuel source for transport (both road and maritime), identifying the options as electricity, hydrogen, biofuels and natural gas.

15.2 The Commission was concerned by the slow realisation of alternative fuels infrastructure across the EU and considered this, along with the lack of common technical standards for infrastructure, as a major obstacle to the market introduction of alternative fuels. It therefore put forward a proposal for a Directive, Document (b), which aimed to deliver a build-up of alternative fuels infrastructure, compliant with common technical standards, so as to facilitate a quicker transition to cleaner transport.

15.3 The draft Directive would require Member States to adopt and publish National Policy Frameworks for the market development of electric, hydrogen, biofuels and natural gas refuelling infrastructure and transmit these to the Commission within 18 months of the date of entry into force of the Directive, and every two years thereafter. Member States would be required to cooperate with one another, either through consultations or joint policy frameworks, to ensure that measures are coherent, coordinated and meet the objectives of the measure.

15.4 When in March we considered these documents we commented that, whilst we recognised the potential role for EU legislation in promoting alternative fuels infrastructure, we shared the Government's concerns about the detail of the proposals. So we asked, before considering the issues again, to have an account of how these concerns were being addressed in Council working group discussions, of the outcome of the Government's consultations and of its own impact assessment.

15.5 As for subsidiarity, we noted the Government's contention that the setting of targets for the uptake of ultra low emission vehicles technology and for the installation of alternative fuels infrastructure was a matter better left to national policy makers. Whilst we had some sympathy with this view, we did not consider the target setting provisions of the proposal breached the principle of subsidiarity to the extent necessary to warrant the House issuing a Reasoned Opinion. We did, however, strongly agree with the Government that the targets for the number of alternative fuel infrastructure points and their geographical coverage should not be adopted through a series of delegated acts, thus diminishing Member State control, but through legislative acts.

15.6 Last month we heard about the Government's consultations and its impact assessment, that there had been some encouraging progress in Council working group consideration of the proposals, but some issues of concern had yet to be addressed, and that the Lithuanian Presidency hoped to agree a general approach at the 5 December Transport Council. We said that we looked forward to hearing further about the negotiations, particularly in relation to the Presidency's ambition for the forthcoming Council. Meanwhile the documents remained under scrutiny.[43]

The Minister's letter of 27 November 2013

15.7 The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Kramer), tells us now that further proposed compromise text was discussed at the final working group on 20 November when the Government successfully safeguarded the recent progress made against the UK's priority issues and has made some further gains. Noting that the improvements reported in her previous letter are retained, the Minister says that:

·  the compromise text aligns with the Government's key priorities by removing the binding nature of infrastructure targets and proposes that national commitments to the transition to cleaner power be included within National Policy Frameworks;

·  this removes the potential for excessive regulatory burdens from installation costs that may not be balanced against revenues in the developing market;

·  in place of the binding EU targets Member States will be required to identify the density of infrastructure considered appropriate to support the use of alternatively fuelled vehicles and establish their own targets within their National Policy Frameworks;

·  crucially, these targets can be revised by Member States on the basis of assessment of demand, which mitigates the risk of the developing market being saturated with outdated or even redundant technology specific infrastructure;

·  National Policy Frameworks have the potential to provide organisations with evidence to allow them to invest with greater confidence in the deployment of infrastructure for alternatively fuelled vehicles ahead of their mass uptake; and

·  the level of information required to be presented in these documents has been increased to compensate for the deletion of the binding EU targets and to provide more comprehensive information on Member States' policy objectives, commitments and support for development of the market.

15.8 The Minister says also that:

·  the compromise text which takes into account the concerns of the UK and other Member States regarding the premature picking of 'winning' technologies, by broadening the scope of the Directive to include other types of alternative fuels, is retained;

·  the latest compromise text restricts the Commission's powers to adopt delegated acts to amendments or updates to the references to technical standards, whilst inserting a new provision for seeking advice from Member States prior to adoption;

·  the Goverment has been successful in its attempts to remove wireless charging technologies from scope of the Directive, so to avoid stifling innovation at such an early stage of technical development; and

·  it had also hoped to secure support for amendments that would provide greater flexibility for private electric rapid recharging networks to install only those connectors required by their fleets, however it has been unable to do so due to concerns from a majority of other Member States that this would lead to fragmentation of the market.

15.9 The Minister concludes by saying that:

·  following these further negotiations it now appears likely that the Presidency will be able to achieve a general approach at the 5 December Transport Council; and

·  having secured the UK's key priorities, including the removing of binding EU targets and securing greater flexibility for Member States, the Government considers that the terms of the general approach represent a successful outcome and would therefore wish to support it.

Conclusion

15.10 We are grateful to the Minister for the further account she gives us about the Council working group negotiations and, noting the improvements to the draft Directive now secured, clear the documents.


43   See headnote. Back


 
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Prepared 11 December 2013