ACEA

ACEA Institutional Relations

ACEA is an industry association, established in 1991 by the major European car, truck and bus manufacturers, in response to the increasing European integration and the consequent gradual shifting of government responsibility to Brussels. ACEA is one of many interest groups in Brussels, all of which aim to contribute to an informed decision-making process within the EU institutions.

Interest groups in Brussels are numerous and vary a lot in nature - they can be businesses, consumer groups, environmental organisations, activists, trade unions, member states and EU regions, towns and cities. The European Commission and the European Parliament are currently discussing the introduction of a 'lobby register'. ACEA is fully open to this initiative, as the auto industry believes that the European Union will be well served by more transparency. The auto industry, furthermore, has absolutely clear and transparent interests.

Vital interests

While ideological, environmental or consumer interest groups are usually referred to as “NGOs”, industry associations are often dubbed a “lobby”, implicitly indicating they are defending questionable interests. So what interests does ACEA represent?

The automobile industry forms the backbone of the EU economy: more than 12 million families depend on the sector for employment; ACEA members yearly invest €20 billion in R&D, or 4% of turnover; net auto exports are worth € 42.8 bn; vehicle taxes deliver € 381bn to governments – 3.5% of EU gross domestic product; and its technology and innovations shoulder development into many other sectors.

It is legitimate and indispensable to maintain a dialogue with the institutions and stakeholder that have so much influence on the sector's future growth, innovation capacity and investment decisions. Industry associations such as ACEA are not merely defending the interest of "capital". They represent and guard economic sectors that are instrumental to EU growth, and that play an important part in everybody's lives, through employment, products, education, pensions or investments.

Too much power?

"Many very inaccurate statements are made on this subject", said Secretary General Ivan Hodac, in a recent interview.

"If we had the influence that many people say we have, quite a few policies would not have been adopted in the way they have been in recent years. At the moment we are facing the threat of too stringent CO2 emission targets for automobiles despite our very reasoned arguments against the Commission’s intended approach."

"Two things seem to be often forgotten", added Hodac: "The first is that our industry is vital for the European economy. Society must be very careful not to jeopardize the sector's competitiveness and investment capacity because there will be an economic and social price to pay if they do. Secondly, many of the positions we take are complemented, reinforced or challenged by non-governmental interest groups and other organisations, as they should be in democratic systems. A sound legislative process takes into account the valid interest of all involved and weighs the arguments and consequences in their full context."

Confrontation does not help solving the problems that need to be addressed. Discrediting he industry's views as "lobbying" only distracts from the issues that are at stake. The auto industry respects all other stakeholders in the policy making process and asks that they do not oversimplify reality.

Social responsibilities

The ACEA members invest heavily in corporate social responsibility initiatives to the benefit of their employees and society-at-large. The manufacturers are keen for people to know that their products meet the highest environmental and safety standards and that this is based on a long-standing tradition of innovation and investments.

For example, it takes 100 of today’s cars to match the average emissions of a car built in the 1970s. Noise levels of vehicles have been reduced by 90% over the same period. On the safety front, the introduction of seatbelts, anti-lock braking systems and airbags has cut fatalities and serious injuries to vehicle passengers by 80%. Acting as a responsible corporate citizen is not only desirable in itself; it also helps to build a relationship based on trust and loyalty between companies and their customers.

Technical regulations

The automotive industry is one of the most regulated sectors in Europe. Up till now, more than 80 EU directives have been drawn up and over 115 pieces of legislation have been internationalised further within the UN/ECE in Geneva. Most of the regulation concerns the so-called type approval of cars, which is needed to register and sell cars in Europe. Cars are a very complex product and before they enter the market, they have to comply with hundreds of requirements. The regulation concerned is very technical in nature and cannot be drafted without the specialist knowledge of vehicle manufacturers.

ACEA collects the necessary information through working groups (assembling member companies' experts) and shares the information with the EU institutions and other stakeholders to support effective and efficient policy making. Two third of the twelve policy officers working in the Brussels offices of ACEA deal with the technical dossiers.

ACEA also provides factual information to the public-at-large on the European automobile industry and its contribution to EU society.

The current ACEA members are BMW Group, DAF Trucks, DaimlerChrysler, FIAT, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Scania, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Seven priority fields

Apart from the many technical issues, the European automotive industry currently has seven priority topics it discusses with the EU institutions and other stakeholders on a structural basis.

1. A real completion of the Internal Market, which will not be achieved without fiscal harmonisation of motor vehicle and fuel taxes. In light of the CO2 challenge, taxation schemes should be based on the CO2 emissions of cars and the use of alternative fuels, to increase demand for fuel-efficiency.


2. Reducing over-regulation and conflicting objectives of legislation via adequate and independent impact assessment studies, and reasonable lead-time periods for implementation.


3. Better promotion of R&D efforts and innovation policy instruments.


4. Global harmonisation of technical regulations and standards for motor vehicles.


5. Continuous development of efficient road infrastructure, while ensuring the promotion of competitive access to basic infrastructure networks (road, energy, transport, telecommunications)


6. Better market access for European automotive products via the completion of the WTO’s Doha Round and together with some bilateral/regional free trade agreements.


7. Adoption of an Integrated Approach to important societal issues such as road safety and the reduction of CO2 emissions, involving all relevant actors and factors.

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