The Passenger Car Fuel Consumption Order 1983

The Secretary of State for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 15(1), (2), (3), (6) and (7) and 17(2) and (4)(b) of the Energy Act 1976 and now vested in him[^f00001] and of all other enabling powers, and having maintained consultation with organisations representative of manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers of cars for the United Kingdom market, hereby makes the following Order:—

Citation and commencement

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This Order may be cited as the Passenger Car Fuel Consumption Order 1983 and shall come into operation on 15th November 1983.

Revocation

2

The Passenger Car Fuel Consumption Order 1977 is hereby revoked.

Interpretation

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• (1) In this Order—

• “the applicant” means the person by whom, or under arrangements made by whom, the tests are carried out under the provisions of Article 6;

• “EEA State” means a State which is a contracting Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;

• “the ECE Regulation” means ECE Regulation 84 (subject to corrigendum 1 dated 17th February 1992), which entered into force on 15th July 1990 as an annex to the Geneva Agreement;

• “an ECE fuel consumption document” means a document in the form set out in Annex 2 to the ECE Regulation issued by the Secretary of State or by the competent authority of a country which is a party to the Geneva Agreement;

• “an EEC fuel consumption document” means a document in the form set out in Annex II to the Fuel Consumption Directive or in Annex II to the Amended Fuel Consumption Directive issued by the Secretary of State or by the competent authority of an EEA State;

• “the ECE test procedure” means the procedure for the carrying out of tests of the fuel consumption of vehicles specified in regulation 5 of, and Annexes 4 and 5 to, the ECE Regulation;

• “the EEC test procedure” means the procedure for the carrying out of tests specified i paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Annex I to the Fuel Consumption Directive and “the new EEC test procedure” means the procedure for the carrying out of tests specified in paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Annex I to the Amended Fuel Consumption Directive;

• “the Fuel Consumption Directive” means Council Directive No 80/1268/EEC of 16th December 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the fuel consumption of motor vehicles and “the Amended Fuel Consumption Directive” means the Fuel Consumption Directive as amended by Commission Directive 93/116/EC of 17th December 1993;

• “the Geneva Agreement” means the Agreement concerning the adoption of uniform conditions of approval for motor vehicle equipment and parts and reciprocal recognition thereof concluded at Geneva on 20th March 1958[^f00002], as amended[^f00003], to which the United Kingdom is a party[^f00004];

• “official fuel economy certificate” means— a certificate in which the Secretary of State has, pursuant to Article 7(2), recorded the results of official tests; ora document which, by virtue of Article 7(1), is to be treated as an official fuel economy certificate,and references (however expressed) to the results of tests recorded in an official fuel economy certificate include references to results recorded in a document which is to be treated as an official fuel economy certificate;

• ...

• “section 15” means section 15 of the Energy Act 1976;

• (2) “light oil” and “heavy oil” have the same meanings as in section 1(3) and 1(4) respectively of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979.

• (3) Any reference in this Order to a numbered Article or Schedule is a reference to the Article or Schedule bearing that number in this Order and any reference to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the Article or Schedule in which the reference appears.

Application

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• (1) ... This Order applies to all passenger cars about whose fuel consumption provision may be made by Orders under section 15 which are motor cars having four wheels or more and are propelled by spark ignition or compression ignition engines ... except:

• (a) cars constructed or adapted for the use of a person suffering from some physical defect or disability;

• (b) cars manufactured for use outside the United Kingdom;

• (c) cars originally constructed for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description;

• (d) cars to which the Passenger Car (Fuel Consumption and CO₂ Emissions Information) Regulations 2001 apply.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) In this Article “motor car” has the same meaning as in section 185(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Classes of cars

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For the purpose of this Order, all cars which do not differ materially in the technical characteristics specified in Schedule 1 shall be regarded as belonging to the same class.

Officially approved tests

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• (1) The fuel consumption of every class of car to which this Order applies shall be determined by means of tests carried out under the EEC test procedure, the new EEC test procedure or the ECE test procedure on a car of each class by, or under arrangements made by, the manufacturer or, in the case of an imported car, the importer of that car—

• (a) in or outside the United Kingdom by the competent authority of an EEA State in the case of the EEC test procedure or the new EEC test procedure or by the competent authority of a State which is a party to the Geneva Agreement in the case of the ECE test procedure; or

• (b) in the United Kingdom in accordance with the conditions referred to in paragraph (2).

• (2) The conditions are that—

• (a) the tests are carried out in circumstances where officers of the Department of Transport are offered all facilities reasonably required by them to satisfy themselves that the tests are properly carried out;

• (b) the tests are carried out at a site approved for the purpose by the Secretary of State;

• (c) particulars of the tests are submitted to the Secretary of State in the form set out in Part III of Schedule 2;

• (d) the Secretary of State has no reasonable grounds for believing that the tests have not been properly carried out; and

• (e) any fees payable in accordance with Article 11 are paid to the Secretary of State.

• (3) A test carried out as mentioned in paragraph (1) shall be regarded as an officially approved test.

Official fuel economy certificate

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• (1) Where the fuel consumption of a car has been determined by means of officially approved tests carried out as mentioned in Article 6(1)(a), an EEC fuel consumption document or, as the case may be, an ECE fuel consumption document recording the result of those tests shall be treated for the purposes of this Order as an official fuel economy certificate.

• (2) The Secretary of State shall record the results of tests carried out as mentioned in Article 6(1)(b) in an official fuel economy certificate—

• (a) in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 2 if the particulars of the tests submitted in accordance with Article 6(2)(c) included the particulars specified in paragraph 12.1 of Part III of Schedule 2; or

• (b) in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 2 if the particulars of the tests submitted in accordance with Article 6(2)(c) included the particulars specified in paragraph 12.2 of Part III of Schedule 2,

and shall furnish a copy of the certificate to the applicant.

• (3) The Secretary of State shall from time to time cause to be published the results of tests carried out in accordance with Article 6(1) and recorded in official fuel economy certificates.

Calculation of fuel consumption figures

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Where, pursuant to the provisions of Article 6(2)(c), particulars of the tests are submitted to the Secretary of State in the form set out in Part III of Schedule 2—

• (a) the fuel consumption in litres per hundred kilometres required to be stated in paragraph 12 of the particulars shall be the fuel consumption as determined by the tests expressed—

• (i) if the fuel consumption is 5.0 litres per hundred kilometres or less, to the nearest 2 decimal places (amounts of 0.005 being treated as zero); and

• (ii) if the fuel consumption is more than 5.0 litres per hundred kilometres, to the nearest decimal place (amounts of 0.05 being treated as zero); and

• (b) the fuel consumption in miles per gallon required to be stated in paragraph 12 of the particulars shall be calculated by dividing 282.481 by the fuel consumption in litres per hundred kilometres as determined by the tests (the results being expressed to one decimal place and amounts of 0.05 being treated as 0.1).

Repetition of tests

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• (1)

• (a) In any case where an EEC fuel consumption document or an ECE fuel consumption document has not been issued for a class of car, the Secretary of State may require tests of the kind referred to in Article 6(1)(b) to be repeated by, or under arrangements made by, the applicant in respect of any class of car manufactured or imported by him at a place and within a period determined by the Secretary of State in any case where the Secretary of State has reasonable cause to believe that the results of the repeated tests would differ significantly from the results recorded in the official fuel economy certificate.

• (b) Where tests are required to be repeated under paragraph (1) by, or under arrangements made by, the applicant, he shall—

• (i) ensure that these tests are carried out at a place and within the period determined by the Secretary of State in circumstances where officers of the Secretary of State's Department are afforded all such facilities as they may reasonably require to satisfy themselves that the tests are, or have been, properly carried out; and

• (ii) furnish to the Secretary of State particulars of the tests in the form set out in Part III of Schedule 2 within one month from the date of the carrying out of the tests.

• (2) Where no requirement has been made by the Secretary of State under paragraph (1) but the tests referred to in Article 6(1)(b) have been repeated by, or under arrangements made by, the applicant in respect of any class of car manufactured or imported by him and the conditions referred to in Article 6(2) are satisfied, the Secretary of State shall record the repeated test results by amending the official fuel economy certificate for the class of car for which the repeated tests were carried out.

• (3) If the Secretary of State records any repeated test results by amending the official fuel economy certificate for the class of car for which the repeated tests were carried out, the repeated tests shall thereafter be regarded as the officially approved tests for that class of car.

• (4) Where the Secretary of State has recorded any repeated test results by amending an official fuel economy certificate, he shall furnish a copy of the amended certificate to the applicant and cause the results to be published from time to time with other test results he has recorded in official fuel economy certificates.

Notification of change in technical characteristics

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A manufacturer or, as the case may be, an importer of a class of car to which this Order applies, except a class of car for which an EEC fuel consumption document or an ECE fuel consumption document has been issued, in respect of which an official fuel economy certificate has been issued who intends to make any changes in the technical characteristics of the car may notify the Secretary of State on the form shown in Schedule 4 and the Secretary of State may, if satisfied that the proposed changes in the technical characteristics are such as to make it appropriate to do so, notify the manufacturer that no further test is needed and, in that event, the test results recorded in the official fuel economy certificate for the class of car before the change in technical characteristics shall be regarded as the test results for the class of car after the change in technical characteristics and the Secretary of State shall amend the official fuel economy certificate accordingly.

Fees

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Where, pursuant to the provisions of Articles 6(2)(a) or 9(1)(b), an officer of the Secretary of State has observed a test (whether carried out in the United Kingdom or outside it), there shall be paid to the Secretary of State on demand by the applicant a sum equal to the cost of travelling and subsistence expenses reasonably incurred by that officer for the purpose of observing the tests.

Appointed day

12

The Order revoked by Article 2 having appointed 1st April 1978 as the date on which section 15(3) should have effect in relation to every class of car to which this Order applies except:—

• (1) classes of cars manufactured after 1st June 1984 which comprise cars so constructed or adapted that the driving power of the engine is transmitted to all the wheels of the car; and

• (2) classes of cars manufactured after 1st June 1984 which comprise cars propelled by compression ignition engines fuelled by heavy oil;

New Cars

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For the purposes of paragraphs (a), (d) and (e) of section 15(3), a car is to be regarded as a new car if any person in the course of a business uses in respect of it any indication that it has been driven for less than 500 miles unless any such person shows that it had been previously sold to a person who bought it for a purpose other than that of selling or supplying it.

Information as to test results

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• (1) For the purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 15(3), the information as to the results of the relevant official tests to be included in material issued to the general public or in manuals or handbooks shall be information as to the fuel consumption expressed both in miles per gallon and in litres per 100 kilometres of the class of car to which the tests relate as determined by those tests and recorded in an official fuel economy certificate.

• (2) For the purposes of paragraph (d) of section 15(3), the information relating to cars which have been subjected to the relevant official tests shall be the information as to the results of the tests which the Secretary of State has last caused to be published under Articles 7(3) or 9(4).

• (3) For the purposes of paragraph (e) of section 15(3), the label to be affixed to a car shall—

• (a) in all respects (except size but including layout and variation of type) be—

• (i) in a case where the car has been tested under the ECE test procedure or the EEC test procedure, in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 5;

• (ii) in a case where the car has been tested under the new EEC test procedure in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 5;

• (iii) in a case where the car has been tested in accordance with Article 6(1)(b) and the particulars submitted to the Secretary of State in accordance with Article 6(2)(c) included the particulars specified in paragraph 12.1 of Part III of Schedule 2, in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 5; and

• (iv) in a case where the car has been tested in accordance with Article 6(1)(b) and the particulars submitted to the Secretary of State in accordance with Article 6(2)(c) included the particulars specified in paragraph 12.2 of Part III of Schedule 2, in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 5, and

• (b) be no smaller in size than the appropriate form in Schedule 5.

• (3A) The appropriate form shall, in all cases, be completed by the insertion in permanent and legible characters in the appropriate spaces of—

• (a) a distinctive reference to the models, that is to say the description of cars, to which the relevant official tests relate; and

• (b) the results expressed in litres per 100 kilometres and miles per gallon of each test specified on the form.

• (4) For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (3) above, amendments to an official fuel economy certificate shall be disregarded if they are made less than two months before the car for the first purchaser of which the manual or handbook is issued or, as the case may be, to which the label is to be affixed leaves the factory.

Cases where a person is not to be regarded as one who deals in new cars

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• (1) Where a person supplies a new car to another person (in this Article, referred to as “the customer”) under a hire purchase agreement, conditional sale agreement or credit sale agreement and

• (a) he carries on the business of financing the acquisition of cars by others by means of such agreements, and

• (b) in the course of that business acquired the car supplied to the customer only as a means of financing its acquisition by the customer from a third person,

he shall not be regarded as a person who deals in new cars.

• (2) Where a person supplies a new car to a customer under a hire agreement, and

• (a) he carries on the business of financing the use of cars by others by means of hire agreements, and

• (b) in the course of that business, acquired the car only for the purpose of financing its provision to the customer by a third person,

he shall not be regarded as a person who deals in new cars.

• (3) In this Article—

• (a) “hire purchase agreement”, “conditional sale agreement” and “credit sale agreement” have the same meaning as in section 189(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and

• (b) “hire agreement” means an agreement other than a hire-purchase or conditional sale agreement under which a new car is bailed or (in Scotland) hired in return for periodical payments by the person to whom it is bailed or hired.

Exemptions

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The Secretary of State may exempt any manufacturer or importer of cars (or any class of manufacturer or importer of cars) from any of the requirements of this Order either unconditionally or subject to conditions and with or without a limit in time and may vary or revoke any such exemption.

Savings

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SCHEDULE 1 — LIST OF TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS DEFINING CLASS

Reference mass.

Internal characteristics of the engine affecting its power-speed curve (eg compression ratio, valve characteristics).

Type of fan and its method of drive (eg electrical, mechanical).