Jump to Content
Minister

Vehicle Emissions Standards

A A A

Australia has had new vehicle emission standards in place since the early 1970s and these have been progressively tightened over the past 40 years.  The current standards reflect Australia's commitment to harmonise with the vehicle standards developed by the United Nations wherever possible. Over the last 10 years in particular there have been improvements in a number of air quality indicators, and it is generally accepted that the increasing proportion of vehicles meeting tighter emission standards has played a major part in these air quality improvements.

The tables listed below summarise the emission limits which apply for light and heavy vehicles and their timetable for adoption in the ADRs. The ADRs are performance standards which specify the maximum levels of emissions permitted under a specified test. The ADRs do not mandate the use of particular technology, although it has been necessary for vehicle manufacturers to fit catalytic converters to light petrol and LPG vehicles in order to meet the emission limits introduced by ADR37/00 in the mid 1980's. For light duty diesel vehicles, particulate traps are necessary in most vehicles to meet the very low particle emission limits in the Euro 5 standards adopted in ADR79/03 and ADR79/04.

Euro 5/6 Light Vehicle Emissions Standards

On 11 June 2011, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP announced that Euro 5 emissions standards will commence in Australia for new model vehicles from 1 November 2013 and for existing models from 1 November 2016. Euro 6 emissions standards will commence for new model vehicles from 1 July 2017 and for existing models from 1 July 2018.

Details of the announcement are contained in the media release.

The decision follows a RIS process covering the review of Euro 5/6 Light Vehicle Emissions Standards. The final RIS [PDFPDF: 724 KB] [ReadSpeaker] [RTFRTF: 20421 KB] incorporates a benefit-cost analysis undertaken by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). The Department also acknowledges the assistance of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and a number of state environment agencies in the preparation of the RIS.

A draft RIS was provided for public scrutiny and comment, prior to the presentation of the final RIS for consideration by the Minister. The comment period for the draft RIS closed on 15 March 2010, with some 25 submissions received.

The text of ADR79/03 and ADR79/04 adopting the Euro 5 Emissions Standards (as embodied in UN Regulation 83/06) are now available on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. ADR79/05, which will implement the Euro 6 emission standards in Australia, will be formally determined by the Minister when the source standard (UN Regulation 83) is updated to incorporate the Euro 6 requirements adopted in the European Union.

In-Service Emissions

The regulation of emissions from vehicles once they are on the road (in-service) is the responsibility of the state and territory governments. However, the Australian Government undertaken a number of studies to improve the understanding of emissions performance of the in-service passenger car fleet.

The National In-Service Emission Study (NISE1), published in 1996, is the most comprehensive study of emissions from cars ever undertaken in Australia. It tested over 600 vehicles manufactured between 1980 and 1993 and demonstrated that considerable exhaust emissions benefits could be obtained from regular tuning and maintenance. An update and expansion of this study, NISE 2, covering later model vehicles, was completed in March 2009.

The NISE 1 study also indicated that evaporative emissions from vehicles were, on average, well above the limits mandated in the then applicable standard, Australian Design Rule 37(ADR37). The subsequent Petrol Volatility Project (1997) examined this in more detail and concluded that reducing the volatility of commercial petrol was the most cost effective means to address this problem. States have since set limits on the volatility of summertime petrol supplies.

Earlier Vehicle Emission Reports and RISs

Bookmark and Share

Print

Last Updated: 27 February, 2013