An official with MEP told the media today that MEP, together with NDRC, MPS, MoF, Ministry of Communications, and Ministry of Commerce, drafted, printed, and circulated“The 2014 Implementation Plan for Phase-out of Yellow-tagged Motor Vehicles and Old & Used Motor Vehicles” (hereinafter referred to the Plan), in order to implement the “Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution”, step up the control of vehicle exhausts, and make sure to accomplish the task proposed by the annual government work report to take 6 mil. yellow-tagged and old & used motor vehicles out of street this year.

Yellow-tagged motor vehicles mean gasoline vehicles with emission level failing national Stage I motor vehicle emission standards and diesel vehicles with emission level failing national Stage III motor vehicle emission standards; old & used vehicles mean vehicles with emission level failing national Stage IV emission standards, i.e., vehicles with long mileage and poor emission control level, according to this official. There had been more than 13 mil. yellow-tagged motor vehicles on road in the country by the end of 2013, accounting for around 10% of the total vehicle population, with emissions taking up around 50% of the total pollutant load of motor vehicles. Therefore, to phase out yellow-tagged vehicles and old & used vehicles as soon as possible is one of the important measures to improve urban air quality.

The State Council assigned the task to eliminate 6 mil. yellow-tagged motor vehicles and old & used vehicles within the year, and the target has been disintegrated and allocated to local provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, added the official. To make sure the accomplishment of the task, the Plan proposes to follow the principle of “incentives from the government, collaboration among departments, guidance by the market, and involvement of financial sector”; "give incentives for upgrading and restrict the use” of non-commercial, high-polluting vehicles; require high-polluting, commercial vehicles to “be scrapped at the end of life cycle and tighten their regulation”; adopt comprehensive measures, strengthen inter-department coordination, improve supporting policies, perform responsibilities to the word, and facilitate the improvement of the air quality.

The Plan aims to promote the phase-out progress from multiple respects, such as exercising tougher regulation on yellow-tagged vehicles and old & used vehicles, raising the cost for keeping a yellow-tagged car or old & used car, and facilitating the elimination effort through market tools and subsidies. There are eight specific measures as below:

a.) Restrict the yellow-tagged vehicles on road and tighten the road patrol and enforcement. According to the Plan, the cities at or above prefectural level in major regions are required to have delineated the restricted area and off-limit area of yellow-tagged vehicles by the end of October 2014; yellow-tagged vehicles will have to run at stipulated hours in restricted areas and be off-limit 24/7 to core areas of a city by the end of the year; yellow-tagged vehicles will have been restricted or banned in all cities at or above prefectural level by the end of June 2015. In the meantime, local areas are required to issue a notice on the restriction and ban of yellow-tagged vehicles, improve traffic signs and markings, work harder on the road emission inspection and patrol of yellow-tagged vehicles, mete out harsher punishments on those driving vehicles which meet the mandatory scrapping standards, and try to impound any of such vehicles as soon as identified.

b.) Conduct vehicle inspection more frequently and strictly enforce the mandatory scrapping standards. According to the Plan, the emission inspection and overall performance test of yellow-tagged vehicles will be conducted quarterly as of September; vehicles that have failed the emission test will not be granted the environmental labels or take the overall performance test. Vehicles without environmental labels within three consecutive test cycles upon the expiration of safety test will be scrapped mandatorily in accordance with “Regulations on Mandatory Scrapping of Vehicles”. For yellow-tagged vehicles which qualify the mandatory discarding but fail to go through the deregistration formalities, a notice will be released to annul their registration certificates, plate numbers, and road-worthiness certificate, and if deregistration formalities are still not in place at the deadline set by the notice, those vehicles will be deregistered compulsorily. In the meantime, more efforts will be made with regard to the supervision and management of end-of-life old & used vehicles, to make sure those vehicles to be scrapped and recycled normally.

c.) Tighten the supervision and management of yellow-tagged commercial vehicles. According to the Plan, local areas are required to straighten out yellow-tagged commercial vehicles every year, drivers which fail to obtain the green label and safety test label shall not apply for “Road Transportation Business Certificate” or go through the annual inspection formalities for such certificate. Ministry of Communications and MEP will also work together to give priority to inspection on taxis and buses, and intensive inspection will be carried out twice every year.

d.) Step up the regulation on vehicle safety test and emission test agencies. To prevent formalism, the Plan requires to step up the regulation of safety test, emission test, and commercial vehicle overall performance test agencies, and exercise strict process management during vehicle test; asks local areas to carry out supervision and inspections on such agencies, straighten out the test agencies, and mete out harsh punishments on incompliances; and proposes to gradually establish a regular mechanism for regulation of such agencies.

e.) Introduce incentive policies to phase out yellow-tagged vehicles and old & used vehicles ahead of schedule. According to the Plan, local governments are required to, based on actual conditions, allocate rewards and subsidies for early phase-out efforts; financial institutions are required to give credit loan supports to car owners who purchase new vehicles after eliminating yellow-tagged vehicles and old & used vehicles, in the principle of risk control and business sustainability.

f.) Encourage the car producers to have sales promotion. The Plan encourages car producers to offer preferable policies such as discounts to owners who purchase new cars after scrapping yellow-tagged vehicles and old & used vehicles ahead of schedule. The extent of discounts may be determined by the producers based on actual conditions, and graded in accordance with vehicle type and selling price. When purchasing new cars, owners of eliminated vehicles may take the discount certificate issued by public transaction platform to offset car price in part.

g.) Establish a three-tier (national, provincial, municipal) vehicle emission regulation platform. The Plan proposes to integrate existing vehicle management resources, establish a sound, three-tier platform for updating data on the monitoring and phase-out of yellow-tagged vehicles and old & used vehicles, and enable data exchange and information sharing among different departments. The Plan also encourages local environmental protection departments to review the updated data on phase-out of those vehicles, make public the vehicle type on sales promotion, and examine and give qualified car owners subsidies and discounts offered by car producers.

h.) Carry out pilot projects on treatment and upgrading of yellow-tagged vehicles. The Plan proposes to conduct pilot projects on upgrading the after treatment devices or engines (after treatment device included) of heavy-duty yellow-tagged diesel vehicles, in cities like Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shijiazhuang, with the emphasis on diesel passenger cars and buses which are considered in good conditions by the national Stage Ⅱ motor vehicle emission standards.