A longer timeframe has been provided for the application of new exhaust emission norms of engines mounted on narrow-track tractors compared to regulations set for those for standard tractors. On July 13, the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the European Parliament meeting in Brussels endorsed a report from MEP Salvatore Tatarella for moving back to 2015 the process for narrow-track tractor compliance with Stage IIIB and shifting the successive Stage IV to a start in 2017. Furthermore, the technical feasibility of this latter stage will come up for verification no later than the end of the 2014.
The document will be submitted to the European Council in September and come up for a vote in the European Parliament in October. The text takes into account the specific technical problems for this type of machine which currently cannot new emission control devices. New engines equipped with systems for reducing emissions cannot be mounted on these compact narrow-track tractors manufactured specifically for operations in the tight spaces of vineyards and orchards. Unacoma technicians said the engine industry is hard at work in European Union quarters for achieving the results required but time will be needed for the development of a new generation of power plant technologies for reconciling emission requirements and small engine size.
Unacoma President Massimo Goldoni affirmed, “The impact of this delay is considerable if we consider that out of some 160,000 tractors sold every year in Europe, 25,000 of them belong to the narrow-track category.” He also noted, “If approved by the European Parliament, the measure will allow industry, especially the Italian industry with a great background in the manufacture of specialist tractors, to plan engine updating and provide the time needed for the development of systems which are specifically designed.”
Thus the new regulation introduces rational criteria for the application of emission norms and comes as a success for Italy from the political point of view and that of representative of the interests of the sector. Present in Brussels on July 13 for the committee’s approval of the new timetable was a Unacoma delegation led by Goldoni which included members of the president’s office and councilors of the Tractor Group. The Italian manufacturers’ delegation voiced appreciation for relateur Tatarella’s commitment and capabilities, for the MEPs sitting the parliamentary committee and the Brussels delegation of the Italian Manufacturers Confederation, Confindustria, which backed the efforts made in this mechanics sector.
Among the many technical and regulatory questions currently under discussion, the leading ones are still revising the push for mechanization and the renewal of the machinery inventory throughout Europe. These issues were taken up in the Unacoma delegation’s talks with MEP Tatarella, MEP Pierantonio Panzeri, who sits on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, MEP Valentina Superti, a member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Antonio Tajani for Industry and Entrepreneurship, and MEP Gianfranco dell’Alba, the director general of the Confindustria delegation in Brussels.
Rome, July 18, 2011
UNACOMA
