The Cleaner Road Transport Vehicles Regulations 2011

Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport Vehicles

Directive 2009/33/EC aims to contribute to the EU objectives of increasing energy efficiency in the transport sector and protecting the environment by reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and air pollution from vehicles.

The Cleaner Road Transport Vehicles Regulations 2011, which implement the Directive, came into force on 31 July 2011.The Department for Transport has also produced guidance on the Directive.: http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/guidelines-clean-energy-efficient-vehicles

In brief, the Regulations apply to contracts for the purchase of road transport vehicles by:

• public bodies which are “contracting authorities" for the purposes of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006. In practice this group includes central government departments and agencies as well as organisations in the wider public sector, including local authorities, state schools and NHS Trusts;
• a small number of entities which are “utilities” for the purposes of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006; and
• entities which are required to perform public service obligations under a public service contract (as those terms are defined in Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007) (“public service operators”). This group will primarily be bus operators purchasing vehicles to provide a service under contract with government, and could also include some other private transport companies contracted by the public authority.

The “road transport vehicles” include cars and light commercial vehicles, buses, and commercial vehicles such as trucks or refuse trucks.

Options for implementation

Organisations required to take into account energy and environmental impacts can now do so in one of three ways:

• Set technical specifications for energy and environmental performance in the documentation for the procurement of road transport vehicles (option 1);
• Include energy and environmental impacts in the purchasing decision by using energy and environmental impacts as award criteria as part of a procurement procedure (option 2);
• Include energy and environmental impacts in the purchasing decision by monetising them in accordance with set methodology provided within the Directive (option 3).

More information and help

For further information, please see the Department for Transport guidance.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/guidelines-clean-energy-efficient-vehicles