In Kazakhstan, the noise around the adoption of the Euro-4 environmental standard since July 2013 has been deliberately raised by “gray dealers”. This opinion was expressed to a Tengrinews.kz correspondent by the head of the Association of Kazakhstan Automotive Business (AKAB), Andrey Lavrentyev.
According to him, the Euro-4 standard mainly frightens only a small group of used car resellers from abroad, since they are now forced to bring newer and more expensive cars. “This is not about infringing on the rights of fellow citizens to drive cars, but about those environmental measures that are necessary for the country today. Governments, not only of Kazakhstan, but of all countries, are raising Euro standards and this is a normal trend,” Lavrentiev said.
As previously reported, car owners were dissatisfied with the table of technical regulations for the Euro-4 environmental standard, according to which customs services did not allow cars from a number of countries to pass through. “The table itself cannot comprehend the immensity. There are automakers that produce 10 or 100 models. Each model can be supplied to different markets. Therefore, in a table with 10 columns, to cover several tens of thousands of engine model names and say: these are passable, but these are not, it is unrealistic and simply stupid,” said the chairman of the Independent Automobile Union (NAU) Eduard Edokov.
“As for the list of Euro 4 countries, then, of course, these conditions must be applicable to all countries, so certain amendments should be made. For example, even new cars from China and the UAE do not always comply with the Euro-4 standard. As for the rest, the list is quite correct. Now the government is working on an effective mechanism for determining the Euro-4 standard when importing cars into the country,” Lavrentyev said.
The head of AKAB also refuted the widespread opinion among motorists that the adopted standard could be lobbied by Kazakh automakers and large motor companies. “Well, how can this be beneficial to us? We have absolutely nothing to do with this. Nobody is engaged in any lobbying. This is the common path of all countries of the world. Well, if we have already joined the integration processes with the Customs Union and the world community, then naturally we will raise the standards of Euro-4, and tomorrow Euro-5. Kazakhstan simply cannot remain a gateway for old junk cars. This is a purely environmental issue; it does not support anyone’s interests,” the speaker explained. In addition, Lavrentiev assured that no increase in car prices is expected in Kazakhstan. According to him, now in the republic 90 percent of the population has already switched to new cars, and only less than 10 percent of car owners use the services of “gray dealers”.