1. 9th Noise Experts Group meeting 30 November 2017
Sound emissions requirements for the type-approval of vehicles

2. DG GROW / C4 legislative work
GROW / C4: Automotive and Mobility Industries Unit
Subject of work: Type-approval of new vehicles for their safe and environmental friendly circulation on public roads
Type approval includes
technical specifications (safety, environmental performance)
repair and maintenance information (RMI) obligations for industry
market surveillance requirements for involved commercial operators
In particular for mobile machinery used works (e.g. construction): type-approval of their engines with regard to pollutant emissions (exhaust gases only)
The work addresses the vehicles themselves, not the traffic rules neither the technical inspection of vehicles in use 2 2

3. Sound emissions of vehicles
The above mentioned environmental performance includes pollutant emissions and sound emissions
EU legislation related to sound emissions of vehicles:
Regulation (EU) No 540/2014 on sound emissions of passenger (M-category) and goods transport (N-category) vehicles
Directive 70/157/EEC on sound emissions of the above vehicles categories, applicable until 30/6/2027, in parallel with 1.
Both aim at the type-approval of M- and N-category vehicles with regard to sound emissions, to issue the whole vehicle type-approval under Directive 2007/46/EC
For tractors (T- and C-category vehicles), new Regulation under adoption procedure – Currently: Regulation (EU) 2015/96 incl. the sound emissions of tractors – aims at type-approval with regard to sound emissions of tractors, to issue the whole vehicle type-approval under Regulation (EU) No 167/2013 3 3

4. Sound emissions of vehicles (cont’d)
Regulation (EU) No 134/2014 incl. the sound emissions of powered two-wheelers, tricycles and quadricycles (L-category vehicles) - type-approval with regard to sound emissions of L-category vehicles, to issue the whole vehicle type-approval under Regulation (EU) No 168/2013
The main sources of sound emissions for vehicles
M, N-categories: exhaust, engine, tyres
L-category: exhaust, engine
T, C-category: exhaust, engine, tyres, tracks 4 4

5. Sound emissions of vehicles (cont’d)
Equivalently applicable Regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
UNECE Regulation 51, revision 03: M- and N-categories sound emissions. Includes equivalent requirements to Regulation (EU) No 540/2014. UNECE Regulation 51, revision 02 Includes equivalent requirements to Dir. 70/157/EEC.
UNECE Regulation 59, revision 02: replacement exhaust silencers for M- and N-category vehicles; it contains requirements equivalent to the ones of Reg. 540/2014. UNECE Regulation 59, revision 01 contains requirements equivalent to Dir. 70/157/EEC.
UNECE Regulation 117 on the rolling sound emissions of vehicles tyres (also rolling resistance and wet grip): the only applicable at EU level 5 5

6. Sound emissions of vehicles (cont’d)
Equivalently applicable Regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
UNECE Regulation 41, revision 04: motorcycles (L3-category vehicles) sound emission requirements – equivalent to Reg. (EU) No 134/2014 for L3-category vehicles (motorcycles).
UNECE Regulation 138, revision 01: Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System, i.e. additional sound up to 20 km/h of hybrid and electrical vehicles to warn the vulnerable road users (safety measure)
To be applied:
UNECE Regulation 9: tricycles (L2-, L4-, L5-category vehicles) sound emission requirements.
UNECE Regulation 63: mopeds (L1-category vehicles) sound emission requirements.
UNECE Regulation 92: for all L-category vehicles, replacement exhaust silencers requirements for their type-approval. 6 6

7. Sound emissions of vehicles (cont’d)
Contribution of GROW / C4 to the work on reduction of environmental noise
To reduce the sound emissions at the source, which means
Gradual reduction of noise limits – already in Regulation on sound emissions of M- and N-categories vehicles; proposal to be decided for L-category vehicles (Euro 5 step on sound emissions)
Sound emissions measurement testing for granting the type-approval; result to be below the prescribed limits
Additional Sound Emissions Provisions (ASEP) to measure sound emission under conditions closer to the real driving conditions – below the prescribed limits with a tolerance
Set out specific limits for tyres rolling sound emissions
Future work for improvement of sound emission performance
To improve testing conditions, both for type-approval and ASEP, for better simulation of real driving conditions
To prescribe simplified tests for the roadside control of vehicles
To study the improvement of rolling noise performance of tyres 7 7

8. Thank you for your attention DG GROW – Unit C4
Further information: