Sejong, October 24 - The Ministry of Environment (ME, Minister Han Wha-jin) made a pre-announcement of legislation to partially revise "Enforcement Rules of the Clean Air Conservation Act" for forty days from October 20. The proposed revision calls for most public vehicle purchases to be zero-emission vehicles (such as electric and fuel cell vehicles). The amendment is aimed at the public sector to play a leading role in improving air quality. It is proposed to increase the mandatory purchase and lease ratio of zero-emission public fleets. The amendment also includes environmental deregulatory issues to increase the field's applicability. 

The substance of the amendment is as follows.

[Replacing public fleets to Zero-emission vehicles]

Until recently, the central and local governments and public institutions require to purchase or lease grade 1~3 low-emission cars1 for their public fleets. In the amendment, they should purchase or lease grade 1 low-emission cars only, and the ratios of mandatory purchase and lease of the vehicles are adjusted from the current 80% to 100%. 

The background of this upward adjustment of the ratio was the improved conditions for using zero-emission vehicles, such as the increased release of new electric vehicle models2 and increased supply of chargers3. Of 7,458 vehicles purchased or leased by public institutions last year, 6,927 (92.9%) were low-emission vehicles, and 5,504 (73.8%) were zero-emission vehicles. The amendment is expected to help further increase the number of zero-emission vehicles purchased or leased by public institutions. 

[Environmental deregulation to increase the field's applicability]

In the amendment, regulations concerning air quality will be significantly improved. Some regulations need to be simplified due to technological development, and others do not reflect the current reality. Those were deregulated based on the opinions of experts and related industries. 

(Fuel additives, etc.) Since the emission standards for manufactured vehicles have been tightened, the test for pre-and post-injection on pollutant emissions will be simplified to the emission standards compliance testing. In addition, for a re-inspection upon expiration of the validity4 of the previous inspection, exhaust gas inspection will be exempted if the prescribed conditions are met, minimizing unnecessary inspection costs.

(Extension of training deadline) User convenience has been increased by extending the time limit of job training of new technicians for automotive exhaust gas-related maintenance from the current four months to six months.

(Emissions cap) Additional exceptions for standard oxygen concentration among the emission standards for air pollutant discharging facilities have been applied to reflect the characteristics of various manufacturing processes.

During the period of the pre-announcement of legislation, the Ministry of Environment will gather opinions from various fields about the amendment through its website (me.go.kr) and put it into force within this year.

Park Yeon-jae, Director-General of the Air Quality Policy Bureau, said, "The amendment will help public institutions to play a leading role in improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas by purchasing and leasing zero-emission vehicles. The amendment will also narrow the gap between regulations and reality through deregulation." 

1 Types of low-emission vehicles: Grade 1 (Electric, Solar, and Fuel Cell vehicles), Grade 2 (Hybrid vehicles), Grade 3 (Vehicles whose emission levels meet the emission limit requirements and that use eligible fuels)

2 New electric vehicles: 8 models in 2018 → 55 in 2021 → 81 in 2022 (prospect)

3 Installation of chargers: 27,352 chargers in 2018 → 106,701 in 2021 → 160,845 in 2022 (as of the end of Sep.) 

4 (Validity) The validity of each inspection is three years from the day conformance to the manufacturing criteria has been verified. From this time onward, continuous re-inspection is required at manufacturing and import.

Contact: Kang In-sook, Deputy Director

Air Quality Policy Division / +82-(0)44-201-6879

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr