Guidance on the revised Clean Vehicles Directive

The revision of the Clean Vehicles Directive, which was adopted last year, aims to mobilise public procurement to accelerate the deployment of clean vehicles. The Directive sets national targets, defined as a minimum share of clean vehicles in the total number of vehicles procured in each Member State, but leaves full flexibility in how the effort is distributed within each Member State.

In order to help Member States and public authorities in the transposition and practical implementation of the Directive, the Commission intends to publish a guidance notice on the application of some of its provisions. In particular, the Notice – which is planned for adoption next week – will present a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) clarifying specific aspects related to:

• the scope of the Directive;
• the definition of 'clean vehicles';
• the minimum procurement targets;
• the counting of the vehicles;
• the use of the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) database under different procurement scenarios (including e.g. retrofitted vehicles, replacement of vehicles in the framework of existing contracts, etc).

Member States are required to transpose the Directive into national legislation by 2 August 2021.