Germany warned over Daimler's air conditioning defiance

摘要

Daimler's refusal to comply with EU rules on refrigerant chemicals used in mobile (car) air conditioning systems, and the German authorities' complicity in allowing the non-compliance, has landed Germany with a formal warning, the first stage in EU legal proceedings from the European Commission, on 23 January.Under the EU's 2006 mobile air conditioning (MAC) directive (2006/40/EC), from 1 January 2011 the air conditioning systems of new models (newly type-approved vehicles) must be filled with a refrigerant with a low impact on the climate -more specifically fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential (GWP) higher than 150 CO_2 GWP can no longer be used. Car manufacturers are free to choose what refrigerant/system they use in their vehicles as long as it complies with the directive's GWP rule.