The New Heavy-Duty Vehicles (Carbon Dioxide Emission Performance Standards) (Vocational Vehicles) Regulations 2025
These regulations outline a procedure for identifying and correcting misreported heavy-duty vehicles regarding their CO2 emission performance standards.
The Secretary of State is empowered to notify manufacturers of misreported vehicles, allowing manufacturers one month to provide evidence.
If the vehicle was incorrectly certified as a vocational vehicle, the Secretary of State corrects the manufacturer's average specific CO2 emissions, using either provided data or, failing that, a formula detailed in the Schedule.
The regulations apply to England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland and come into effect on July 29th, 2025.
Arguments For
Improved Accuracy of CO2 Emission Data: The regulations enhance the accuracy of reported CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles, leading to a more reliable assessment of the automotive industry's progress towards emission reduction targets.
Fairer Competition: By ensuring that all vehicles are correctly classified, the regulations promote fair competition among manufacturers, preventing those who misreport their vehicles from gaining an unfair advantage.
Environmental Protection: Correctly accounting for all heavy-duty vehicle emissions contributes to more effective environmental protection and reduces the overall carbon footprint of the transportation sector.
Compliance with EU Law: The regulations ensure compliance with EU regulations on CO2 emission performance standards for heavy-duty vehicles, demonstrating the UK's commitment to international environmental initiatives.
Arguments Against
Administrative Burden on Manufacturers: The regulations may impose an administrative burden on manufacturers, requiring them to meticulously track and report data, possibly leading to added costs.
Potential for Disputes: The process for identifying and correcting misreported vehicles may lead to disputes between manufacturers and the Secretary of State regarding the accuracy of vehicle classification.
Complexity of the Correction Formula: The formula for correcting average specific CO2 emissions is complex and requires specialized expertise to understand and apply correctly.
Limited Impact Assessment: The lack of a full impact assessment raises concerns regarding the potential long-term effects of these regulations on manufacturers and the industry as a whole.
- Citation, commencement and extent (1) These Regulations may be cited as the New Heavy-Duty Vehicles (Carbon Dioxide Emission Performance Standards) (Vocational Vehicles) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 29th July 2025. (2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
This section provides the title of the regulations, their effective date (July 29th, 2025), and their geographical reach (all of the UK).
- Interpretation In these Regulations— “Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400” means Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400 of 12 December 2017 implementing Regulation (EC) No 595/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the determination of the CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles and amending Directive 2007/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulation (EU) No 582/2011; “heavy-duty vehicle” means a vehicle to which any of points (a) to (d) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 apply; “manufacturer” has the meaning given in Article 3(10) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242; “misreported vehicle” means a heavy-duty vehicle that— (a) was certified as a vocational vehicle based on the data reported by the manufacturer in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2018/956; and (b) was registered as a non-vocational vehicle based on the data reported to the Secretary of State in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2018/956; “non-vocational vehicle” means a heavy-duty vehicle other than a vocational vehicle; “Regulation (EU) 2018/956” means Regulation (EU) 2018/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions from and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles; “Regulation (EU) 2019/1242” means Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 of the European Parliament and of the Council setting CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles and amending Regulations (EC) No 595/2009 and (EU) 2018/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/53/EC; “vocational vehicle” has the meaning given in Article 3(16) of Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400.
This section defines key terms used throughout the regulations, referencing relevant EU regulations to establish clear definitions for terms such as 'heavy-duty vehicle,' 'manufacturer,' and 'vocational vehicle'.
This clarifies the scope and application of the regulations.
- Identification of misreported vehicles (1) Where a misreported vehicle is identified, the Secretary of State must notify the manufacturer of the vehicle. (2) Within one month of receiving a notification under paragraph (1), a manufacturer may provide to the Secretary of State information to show that the vehicle was correctly certified as a vocational vehicle. (3) Where, following receipt of any information under paragraph (2), the Secretary of State considers that a misreported vehicle was incorrectly certified as a vocational vehicle, the Secretary of State must correct the manufacturer’s average specific CO2 emissions for the reporting period of the relevant year to take that vehicle into account.
This section describes the process for identifying and dealing with misreported vehicles.
The Secretary of State notifies the manufacturer, who can then supply information.
If the vehicle was wrongfully classified, the Secreatry of State must correct the manufacturer's emission calculations.
- Procedure for correcting average specific CO2 emissions (1) The Secretary of State may correct a manufacturer’s average specific CO2 emissions using the correct CO2 values of a misreported vehicle. (2) Where the correct CO2 values of a misreported vehicle are not already available, the Secretary of State may request that a manufacturer determine the correct CO2 values according to the technical characteristics of that vehicle. (3) Where a manufacturer determines the correct CO2 values of a misreported vehicle following a request under paragraph (2), the manufacturer must use the same version of the simulation tool as used for the original determination of the CO2 values of that vehicle, unless the Secretary of State permits otherwise. (4) Where a manufacturer fails to determine the correct CO2 values of a misreported vehicle within two months of receiving a request under paragraph (2), the Secretary of State may correct the manufacturer’s average specific CO2 emissions using the formula set out in the Schedule. (5) In this regulation—“correct CO2 values” means the CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of a misreported vehicle as a non-vocational vehicle, determined using the simulation tool in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400;“simulation tool” means an electronic tool used to determine CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of vehicles as provided for in Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400.
This section details the procedure for correcting a manufacturer's average specific CO2 emissions when a vehicle has been incorrectly classified.
It outlines the Secretary of State's authority to use correct CO2 values and to request these values from manufacturers.
If the manufacturer fails to respond in a timely manner, a specific formula from the Schedule is used for correction; definitions for 'correct CO2 values' and 'simulation tool' are also included.
Schedule Formula for correcting average specific CO2 emissions
- Where regulation 4(4) applies, the average specific CO2 emissions of the manufacturer must be corrected as follows for the reporting period of the relevant year: (Formula) where— avgCO2sg is the average specific CO2 emissions of the manufacturer defined in Annex I, point 2.2. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242; Vsg is the number of new heavy-duty vehicles of the manufacturer in the vehicle sub-group sg, excluding vocational vehicles, in accordance with Article 4(a) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242; ΣV is the sum over all heavy-duty vehicles of the manufacturer in the vehicle sub-group sg, in accordance with regulation 3(3); CO2Vv is the average of the CO2 emissions in g/tkm of the vocational vehicle v for all different combinations of mission profiles, load conditions and fuel types, reported in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/956; Vocsg is the number of heavy-duty vehicles of the manufacturer in the vehicle sub-group sg, in accordance with regulation 3(3).
- The corrected average specific CO2 emissions of the manufacturer (avgCO2sg)corr must replace the average specific CO2 emissions of the manufacturer avgCO2sg for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242.
This schedule provides a mathematical formula for correcting the manufacturer's average specific CO2 emissions.
The formula uses several variables representing different aspects of vehicle production and emission data, all defined to allow calculation of the correction.