Emission norm heat on automakers

EPCA wants BS-VI deadline of April 2020 to apply to registration & sale

Automakers, who incurred heavy losses owing to last week’s Supreme Court order banning the sale and registration of Bharat Stage-III (BS-III) vehicles from 1 April, are likely to face further challenges when the scheduled date for implementation of BS-VI emission norms arrive in April 2020. 

BS norms are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to normalise the production of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment. These norms are based on European regulations.

After the latest victory in the apex court, the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), a statutory body constituted by the central government, wants the April 2020 deadline for the BS-VI implementation to be applied to the sale and registration, and not just manufacturing. The EPCA, along with amicus curiae Harish Salve, had dragged automakers to the Supreme Court when companies maintained that the notification on BS-IV norms only relate to manufacturing and not registration or sales. 

The agency claimed that the deadline of April 2017 for BS-IV was not just for manufacturing and, therefore, only BS-IV vehicles should be sold after the cut-off date. 

The EPCA, along with Salve, now holds that the April 2020 deadline for BS-VI emission should also be treated as a cut-off date for stopping the sale of non-BS-VI-compliant vehicles. They plan to file a case in the court to get this clause changed in the government notification, which now only talks about manufacturing. 

If this happens, it will in effect advance the BS-VI deadline by at least two-three quarters leaving lesser time in hands of companies. The EPCA has also raised this point in the draft comprehensive action plan for air pollution control, submitted to the court last month. 

Automakers are already running against time to implement the BS-VI emission norm from April 2020 after the government in January 2016 decided to advance implementation of BS-VI by a year to April 2020 from the earlier plan of April 2021. It also decided to completely skip BS-V and go straight to BS-VI from BS-IV. The initial road map had envisaged BS-V norms from 2022 and BS-VI from 2024. Companies agreed to the April 2020 BS-VI deadline after lot of initial resistance. 

If April 2020 also becomes a deadline for beginning the sale and registration of BS-VI vehicles, companies will have to stop manufacturing of all BS-IV vehicles months in advance, explained an industry executive. Else, they may be again left with some BS-IV stocks when the deadline approaches. “The April 2020 deadline for manufacturing BS-VI vehicles itself is a challenge at this stage. Many models need to be significantly redesigned,” said the executive. The industry started working on this road map for 2020 based on the government notification. “Any change will compromise the regulatory road map laid down by the government,” said another industry official. 

Even if some companies start manufacturing BS-VI vehicles before the deadline they will face challenge on the availability of BS-VI-compliant fuel as the national level supply of such fuel is only expected in 2020.

Go Green

• EPCA raises the issue in a draft report to Supreme Court
• Such a change will advance the deadline of BS-VI by two-three quarters
• Companies already racing against time to meet April 2020 deadline
• Even if some companies start manufacturing BS-VI vehicles before the deadline they will face challenge on the availability of BS-VI-compliant fuel