CARS 21 - Competitive Automative Regulatory System for the 21st century
Overview
Background & policy context:
In January 2005, the European Commission announced the setting up of a high-level group called “CARS 21” consisting of prominent representatives of Member States, the European Parliament, industry, trade unions, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), users and the Commission.
Its objective is to generate recommendations to improve the worldwide competitiveness of the European automotive industry. The Commision aims to improve the regulatory framework that takes account of both the public policy requirements on the one hand and the automotive industry’s competitiveness on the other. The CARS 21 High Level Group examined the major policy areas which impact the competitiveness of the European automotive industry.
Objectives:
The objectives of CARS 21 were to make recommendations for the short, medium and long-term public policy and regulatory framework for the European automotive industry, that enhance global competitiveness and employment while sustaining further progress in safety and environmental performance at a price affordable to the consumer.
These goals should be achieved by economic, taxation and internal market policies that encourage investment in profitable manufacturing, reviews the regulatory burden and compliance cost, and stimulates research and innovation in world leading automotive technologies.
Methodology:
Groups:
- Creation of the CARS 21 High Level Group, which consists of prominent representatives of the EU car sector, Member States, the European Parliament, Trade Unions, NGO, users and the Commission.
- In order to achieve its objectives, this high level group was assisted by a "Sherpa group" at the working level.
In addition, three subject-specific working parties were set up below the Sherpa group, concerning existing legislation, fuels, and the integrated approach, respectively.
Because of the limited time frame of its mandate, from the start the Sherpa group defined the policy areas it would focus its discussions on, and grouped them into four main blocks:
- Better regulation: The following issues were debated under this chapter: general principles of better regulation and their application in automotive regulations, simplification of existing legislation and implementation issues (EC type-approval system).
- Competitiveness: This chapter covered the most important policy areas affecting the competitiveness of the automotive industry, other than environmental policy and road safety, to which separate chapters were devoted. It included research and development, taxation, intellectual property, trade and competition.
- Environment: The following environmental policy issues were covered in this chapter: pollutant emissions (for light and heavy duty vehicles, respectively), CO2 emissions (follow-up to the Community strategy on CO2 emissions from passenger cars, as well as alternative fuels and public procurement), mobile air conditioning systems and end-of-life vehicles directive.
- Road safety: This chapter was built on the European Road Safety Action Programme.
Specifically for the CO2 emissions and the road safety sections, the discussions were structured on the basis of an integrated approach, in which a number of actions aimed at reaching the policy goals and coming from vehicle technology, infrastructure and the driver were identified and assessed. The conclusions reached in these two areas reflect the approach followed.
In parallel with the work of CARS 21 the Commission organised a wider public consultation of stakeholders, with the aim of gathering the opinion of interested parties on the best regulatory framework for the European automotive industry.
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