Public Consultation on the EU ‘Clean Vehicles Directive’

The ‘Clean Vehicles Directive’ (Directive (EU) 2019/1161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles) sets out minimum targets for ‘clean’ (low- and zero-emission) vehicles in public procurements. The Directive entered into force on 14 August 2019 and must be transposed into Irish law by the Minister for Transport before 1 August 2021.

The Department of Transport has prepared a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) to explore the options for transposition, and to provide a detailed and systematic appraisal of the potential impacts of this regulation.

The aim of this consultation is to consider the policy options for transposing the Directive into Irish law; to set out the various means through which the Directive may be transposed; and to offer stakeholders the opportunity to reflect on key questions relating to how the Directive will be transposed.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide for the mandatory transposition of the Clean Vehicles Directive into Irish law by Statutory Instrument (S.I.) under the European Communities Act 1972. In so doing, the current regulations for ‘clean’ vehicle procurement set out in [external-link Clean Vehicles Directive’ | S.I. 339 of 2011 ]will be amended and replaced by new legislation.

This new legislation will:

• provide for the setting of binding minimum targets for the share of ‘clean’ vehicles, as defined in the Directive, in procurements undertaken by public sector bodies over the relevant service contract value thresholds;
• allow for the expansion of the scope of the Regulations to apply to vehicle purchase, lease, hire-purchase and rental contracts, as well as vehicles supplied to carry out works under certain types of service contract;
• provide for the repeal of the common rules for calculating the lifetime costs linked to the operation of vehicles set out in S.I. No. 339 of 2011;
• provide for the granting of exemptions to certain types of vehicles;
• allow for the identification of an appropriate monitoring body for public procurements of ‘clean’ vehicles ; and
• establish the reporting obligations upon public sector bodies to the appropriate monitoring body; and the reporting obligations upon the State to European Commission.

These changes are expected to have significant and far-reaching impacts on public procurement and, consequently, the Department encourages all public sector bodies to become acquainted with the text of the Directive and its potential specific implications for their organisation. A copy is available for consultation on the Eur-Lex website.

Make a submission

Respondents may make their submissions by answering the questions posed on behalf of their organisations and returning the completed consultation paper to ClimateChangeUnit@transport.gov.ie by 31 December 2020. We request that all submissions be made by email as staff are currently working from home.

Before making a submission, all respondents should first be aware of the Department’s data protection policy and our responsibilities under Freedom of Information (FOI) and Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) legislation. Respondents should further note that all submissions will be published to [external-link www.gov.ie/transport | the Department of Transport's website ] and should clearly indicate in their response if any specific supporting information provided is to be considered commercially sensitive.

Relevant documentation

The revised Clean Vehicles Directive has been transposed into Irish law by S.I. 381 of 2021.

Responses to the public consultation: