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Vehicles older than 15 years will no longer be repaired, according to a false narrative picked up by a number of Romanian publications.
NEWS: […] The future regulations, which await the approval of the European Parliament and Council, will introduce the concept of “residual vehicle”. Right now, the EU is considering the possibility of including vehicles older than 15 years in this category. Residual vehicles that suffer breakdowns related to parts such as the engine, transmission, brakes, steering wheel and chassis and are (about) 15 years old, might be included in this category. Once labeled residual, these vehicles can no longer undergo significant repairs and will be taken to the scrapyard […].
NARRATIVE: The European Union will ban repairs on vehicles older than 15 years and will force their owners to scrap them.
BACKGROUND: At global level, the quality of millions of cars, trucks and buses has dropped due to wear-and-tear, greatly impacting air quality and hampering efforts to curb the effects of climate change, given that the transport sector accounts for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions at global level. More specifically, vehicle emissions represent a considerable source of fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides, both major sources of urban pollution. In this context, several states and international bodies are seeking to adopt minimum quality standards for vehicles, which should ultimately create greener and safer car fleets. The European Union has joined this global effort, seeking to turn Europe into the first “climate- neutral” continent. This means that the EU will stop contributing to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, all the 27 EU Member States have pledged to take action in order to achieve this objective by 2050. One of the main points in this action plan targets the car-making sector and how vehicles are exploited, serviced and scrapped.
PURPOSE: To undermine societal trust in the authorities and international bodies, to promote anti-Western and anti-European rhetoric and to stir and amplify social unrest.
Fact: The EU doesn’t ban repairs, it actually fosters them, but it also introduces measures to protect the environment and prevent road accidents.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Last year, the European Parliament passed a set of goals meant to reduce CO2 emissions for cars and light commercial vehicles, in line with the EU’s climate action goals. Therefore, starting 2035, all EU member states are expected to shift to the exclusive production of electric vehicles. At the same time, European institutions are also looking at measures that seek to improve and “refresh” the existing car fleet. In this respect, the European Commission last summer submitted for public debate a draft law meant to streamline control over end-of-life vehicles, which mentions the concept of “residual vehicle”. The draft law proposes a set of criteria to be used when defining “residual vehicles”, as well as a second set of criteria to be used when assessing if vehicles are “irreparable”. The document of this law clearly states that a vehicle is considered irreparable when any of its components cannot be repaired or replaced or when its core elements exhibit irreversible technical flaws, without mentioning the hypothesis according to which a vehicle is considered irreparable based on the vehicle’s life-cycle. In fact, the measures stipulated in the draft law primarily address carmakers and those involved in the recycling industry, by trying to create a comprehensive circular economy plan for the car industry and introduce clear-cut regulations for the scrapping of vehicles, with a view to improving the framework for an efficient collection, treatment and recycling of raw materials, car parts and components.
The European Commission’s proposal also states that vehicles should be manufactured so as to be 85% recyclable or reusable, whereas authorized treatment and recycling facilities must carry out the depollution of end-of-life vehicles including by removing fluids, liquids, batteries and other potentially polluting materials.
The only provision stipulated for car owners, natural persons or legal entities, is to deliver their vehicles to an authorized treatment facility when it reaches the end-of-life stage and to present the subsequent certificate of destruction for the vehicle’s deregistration. One the reasons that led to this decision was the need to prevent EU countries from exporting to less developed states used vehicles that no longer comply with community safety and pollution regulations, but which are nevertheless accepted in countries in Africa, Asia or South America. A UN report based on an in-depth analysis of 146 countries, found that some two-thirds of them have “weak” or “very weak” policies to regulate the import of used vehicles, greatly contributing to air pollution and leading to more road accidents. According to report of the European Commission, every year some 4 million used vehicles are of unknown whereabouts, with no traces of them on the community market. EU officials say many of these vehicles are eventually marketed to less developed states, negatively impacting the environment and road safety in these countries.
At the same time, according to the same proposal forwarded by the European Commission, Member States must adopt a set of measures and incentives to encourage the reuse, reproduction and reconditioning of car parts and components. One such example, in the case of Romania, are the Car Scrapping Classic, Car Scrapping Plus and Car Scrapping Local schemes, whereby car owners deliver used vehicles for scrapping in exchange for vouchers that can be used to purchase new cars, whether with thermal, hybrid or electric engines.
Another element worth highlighting in the European Commission’s initiative seeks to facilitate the repairs of used cars in a sustainable and responsible way, in line with European policies encouraging the trade of circular, sustainable and reparable products. The initiative is therefore meant to curb abuses on used car markets more efficiently, by limiting the attempts to sell vehicles with significant hidden flaws. Many of these transactions greatly contribute to increasing the incidence of road accidents and to air pollution, by keeping in circulation very old and poorly repaired vehicles. The scrapping and deregistration of such vehicles would greatly reduce the number of road traffic victims, an area where Romania unfortunately fares very poorly.
Last but not least, another argument refuting the false narrative under analysis is the fact that an organization cannot compel a company (a car service, in our case) to turn clients away, other than through the normal mechanisms of a free market. Furthermore, such a decision would be in stark contrast with the broader objective of the European Union to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Therefore, at the start of February, the European Parliament and the European Commission reached an agreement on consumer rights for easy and attractive repairs. The resolution also introduces the concept of “right to repair”, both within and beyond the legal guarantee, which will make it easier and more cost-effective for car owners to repair products instead of simply replacing them with new ones.
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