News that the Government is investigating changes to the vehicle exhaust emission rule in light of recent publicity about selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) being disconnected will be welcomed by operators working within the law.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the Government was committed to reducing the amount of harmful toxins in the environment and that SCR systems played an important role in reducing harmful diesel engine emissions.

The Ministry of Transport and NZ Transport Agency had been working with industry to understand harmful emissions from vehicles and Bridges said the Ministry had commissioned an independent consultant to report on the New Zealand context and potential policy levers that could help to reduce tampering, especially with SCR systems, which appeared to be increasing internationally.

The Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Exhaust Emissions 2007 (the Rule) does not explicitly prohibit tampering with vehicle emissions control equipment, but it does prohibit modification of vehicle emissions control equipment which prevents it from passing a metered test. The Ministry‘s work will look at whether changes to the Rule are needed to specifically prohibit tampering (over and above modification).

“We don‘t support operators tampering with their SCR systems and will be closely monitoring the work the Ministry is leading to counter operators who are tampering with their vehicles emissions systems,” said Bridges.