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Azerbaijan's Cabinet of Ministers last week adopted a truly revolutionary decision: from 1 April, the Euro-4 ecological standard will be applied to vehicles imported and manufactured in Azerbaijan. It was revolutionary because Azerbaijan switched to the Euro-4 standard, bypassing its predecessor - Euro 3.

The government's decision can be called predictable. Azerbaijan joined the fight against harmful emissions into the atmosphere by vehicles in 2010, introducing the Euro-2 standard in its territory. After that, in theory, the introduction of Euro-3 was expected, but at the 9 January meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to socioeconomic development in 2013 and challenges expected in 2014, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also touched on environmental issues. The head of state said that every year the focus is on work to improve the environmental situation, and comprehensive measures are carried out, but more serious measures should be taken. "In particular, it is necessary to inspect once again the factors that pollute the air. Of course, it is necessary to accelerate the transition to the Euro-3 standard. But Euro-3 is not the limit. Work associated with Euro-4 and Euro-5 should be carried out at a higher pace," Aliyev said.

As we can see, the government's decision was not long in coming. But will it really change things for the better?

Eurolist against Eurofuel

The introduction of the Euro-4 ecological standards for vehicles, bypassing Euro-3, is due to the high rate of the country's development. Stricter environmental requirements for cars will help improve the environment and citizens' health.

We must say that the regulatory and technical basis for this transition already exists. For example, previously the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan prepared the standard "Road Transport. Environmental Classes", in which it divided vehicles into six classes, depending on the level of emissions. The standard covers the environmental standards Euro-3, Euro-4, Euro-5 and even Euro-6.

According to the head of the technical regulation and standardization department of the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan, Namiq Tagiyev, the Euro-3 environmental standards and above differ from each other by four main criteria (components): the concentration of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter. Differences between the Euro-2 and Euro-3 standards on various indicators range from 20 to 30 %, between Euro-3 and Euro-4 - from 20 to 60% and between Euro-5 and Euro-4 - from 20 to 40 %.

In order to prevent the importation into the country of vehicles that do not comply with Euro-4, a list of requirements for the production date of cars was determined, depending on the country of origin. This will affect both imported and domestically produced cars. Restrictions do not affect only vintage cars.

However, speaking about the introduction of new standards with regard to cars, the question arises: does the fuel produced in Azerbaijan meet the Euro-4 environmental standard?

The director of the Institute of Standardization and Certification of the State Standards Committee, Sabiq Abdullayev, said that SOCAR processing facilities are able to produce gasoline and diesel fuel that meets the Euro-3 environmental standard. At the same time, the insignificant difference between the Euro-3 and Euro-4 standards makes it possible to use "dirty" fuel in more "eco-friendly" cars. Therefore, in the near future, in conjunction with the State Oil Company, the State Committee will prepare and approve the Euro-3 state standard applicable to fuel.

Transition to higher standards will be implemented in stages.

Further increases in the quality of fuel to Euro-4 and Euro-5 will be possible after SOCAR puts into operation a new production complex, whose construction is planned in Qaradag district of Baku. In January-February, the State Committee will adopt about 50 of the one thousand standards prepared as part of the creation of a new processing complex in Azerbaijan.

Market reaction

It should be noted that the number of cars in the country has been growing in recent years, as evidenced by data on the number of cars imported into Azerbaijan. Specifically, according to the State Customs Committee, in January-November 2013, Azerbaijan imported about 93,700 cars compared to over 92,800 in January-November 2012. In general, over the last decade the number of cars has doubled, exceeding 1.1 million.

Another clear example of the increasing number of cars in the country is the growth in petrol consumption. Thus, according to the head of SOCAR (which is the only manufacturer of oil products in Azerbaijan), Rovnaq Abdullayev, petrol consumption has drawn level with the volume of its production for the first time in Azerbaijan. In turn, in order to meet the growing volume of petrol consumption, next year it is planned to increase the capacity of the catalytic cracking unit at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery. The launch of a new oil and gas refinery, which is expected to begin to be put into operation stage by stage after 2018, will also help this objective.

But how will restrictions affect the importation of vehicles in connection with the enforcement of the Euro-4 standard?

According to the executive director of the Real Estate Market Participants Association, Ramil Osmanov, the imposition of restrictions on the import of cars into Azerbaijan in connection with the introduction of the Euro-4 ecological standard in the republic will have little impact on their cost on the domestic market. The issue of updating the Azerbaijani fleet of cars is topical, and the restrictions that will be introduced with the introduction of Euro-4 will contribute to this.

"Given the specifics of our market and previous experience, we can expect the restrictions to have a slight impact on the cost of cars. Such a conclusion also comes from the fact that on the automobile market in Azerbaijan, supply is several times higher than demand," Osmanov said.

In search of an effective mechanism

The introduction of the Euro-4 standard in the country, as noted above, will affect only locally produced and imported vehicles, but will not cover vehicles already operating in the country. Accordingly, to ensure even greater effectiveness of measures to protect the environment and the health of citizens, it is necessary to take measures to gradually stop using vehicles that do not meet higher environmental standards.

Different countries use different mechanisms in order to stop using old cars that harm the environment.

According to Ramil Osmanov, this question is also very topical for Azerbaijan. The updating of the car fleet by removing old cars from circulation can be achieved by allocating certain compensation to the owners of old cars.

In turn, according to the head of the public relations centre of the Main State Traffic Police Department of the Interior Ministry, Kamran Aliyev, old cars must be disposed of in Azerbaijan, but in order to prevent air pollution and reduce the number of fatal traffic accidents, there is no appropriate legislative framework that would make it possible to ban the use of cars whose service life has expired.

"The majority of fatal traffic accidents involve precisely old cars whose lifetime has expired. Today, the traffic police cannot prohibit the use of old cars. Maybe these cars are mechanically in good condition, but they are worn out, their metal is not resistant and they have much less safety elements, which makes death in a traffic accident inevitable. Our legislation has no article providing, for example, for a ban on the use of a car whose lifetime exceeds 30-40 years. To do this, the Cabinet of Ministers must take an appropriate decision," Aliyev noted.

According to Sabiq Abdullayev, the State Standards Committee is currently discussing the mechanism of withdrawing old cars from circulation with various agencies.

Although the increase in the number of vehicles theoretically adversely affects the environment, the new standards for the emissions of substances that are harmful from an ecological point of view are becoming more stringent. Manufacturers of automobile engines have to develop technologies that meet the increasing environmental requirements. Over the past decade, despite the increase in the car fleet, air quality has improved in the industrialized countries and there is a decline in toxic emissions. Azerbaijan will be no exception.

OUR REFERENCE 

In the early 1990s, European environmentalists sounded the alarm about the high concentration of harmful emissions from the increasing flow of road transport in European cities. The UN was forced to establish a commission to assess the impact of the benefits of civilization on the further lives and health of its citizens - hostages of urbanization. The findings were disappointing: carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, emissions of heavy metals and carcinogenic substances not limited by laws could lead to tragic consequences. In this regard, in 1992, the Euro environmental standard developed by the UNECE was introduced. Euro is a certificate on the compliance of a vehicle with standards, which impose restrictions on the concentration of pollutants in the exhaust gases of vehicles.