EU: Noise emissions from motorcycles
The EU Commission has published a new regulation for noise emissions from motorcycles. It brings the EU law into line with recently updated UN rules on noise emissions from motorcycles.
UNECE regulations Nos 9, 41, 63 and 92 on sound emissions for L-category vehicles have been updated and their latest series of amendments should therefore be included in EU law. The changes notably include a widened scope of application of the Additional Sound Emission Provisions (ASEP) to reflect more closely real-world motorcycle urban and extra-urban operation with the introduction of the following parameters: vehicle speed range, engine speed range and the number of gears tested and the acceleration condition. It is therefore necessary to amend Annex I to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 134/2014 to include a reference to the latest series of amendments to UNECE Regulations Nos 9, 41, 63 and 92.
This delegated act also amends Delegated Regulation (EU) No 134/2014 to take into account the disruption of the supply of helium gas caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Helium gas is essential to obtain purified hydrogen, which is necessary to perform exhaust emission testing under that Regulation. In this context and taking into consideration that nitrogen is already used as an alternative inert gas to helium for both light passenger and commercial vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles, it is necessary to amend Delegated Regulation (EU) No 134/2014 to include nitrogen as an optional gas in the mixture to obtain purified hydrogen.
The text of the regulation can be found HERE.
To find out more about motorcycle regulations, please contact the Institute for Global Automotive Regulatory Research directly.