Source: European Parliament
The impact assessment (IA) underpins the proposal for a regulation on clean corporate vehicles, which is part of the automotive package, through a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The initiative seeks to support the decarbonisation of the EU road transport sector and ensure a fair transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) by enhancing their demand in the corporate segment and by accelerating the availability of ZEV on the second-hand market. The IA provides an informative problem definition, covering the political, legal and market context of the initiative, and identifies the problems and the problem drivers, even though it illustrates their scale only partially. Two groups of policy options are presented and clearly explained. In addition, the IA provides information on the discarded policy options. However, the retained options, which are limited only to introducing minimum targets and reporting and monitoring requirements, are not entirely alternative policy options, and the range of options is limited. Both policy option groups propose the same target measures for light-duty vehicles; they differ only in the measures regarding lorries. The IA assesses economic, environmental and social impacts, with the focus on the economic assessment. The analysis is largely based on modelling; the models used, and the assumptions and data sources, are explained in a dedicated annex. The initiative is relevant for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and, consequently, an SME Test was carried out. The competitiveness dimension is embedded in the assessment, which also includes a competitiveness check annex. The IA transparently explains uncertainties in the assessment, which are largely linked to the fact that the policy options leave full flexibility to the Member States to decide on the measures to achieve the defined targets. This affects the impact analysis (costs/benefits) and the comparison of options (effectiveness/efficiency). It is noteworthy that the IA does not select a preferred option (it only indicates a preferred policy option group) as it considers that the choice requires a political decision. The IA does not discuss in much detail the parallel initiative on the review of CO2 emissions performance standards of light-duty vehicles (cars and vans), which is also part of the automotive package, even though an overall assessment of the package and the combined effects of these two complementary initiatives would have improved the analysis. The legislative proposal differs from the IA options, for example in terms of scope (lorries excluded) and target setting. It also defines rules for financial support for corporate vehicles.
Ex-ante Impact Assessment