Fuel economy labelling deadline extended to Oct 1

Christopher Tan, Straits Times 25 Mar 09;

IT HAS taken well over a year to plan, and was supposed to be mandatory by next week. But the Fuel Economy Labelling Scheme - which is supposed to help car buyers pick more efficient models - will not apply to all cars.

At least, not till Oct 1.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) - the body behind the scheme - informed motor traders of a six-month reprieve in an e-mail sent early this month.

An NEA spokesman said cars which qualify for the extension are those which had already been approved by the Land Transport Authority but 'for which the fuel consumption data is not yet available'. The move is 'to allow suppliers to clear unsold stock'.

The Straits Times understands that the main beneficiaries are parallel importers, who do not get their cars from vehicle makers and thus have no access to officially tested figures.

In the NEA's Fuel Economy Labelling Scheme, importers have to declare how many litres of fuel a car uses per 100km of driving. The figure must be from a mix of city and highway driving and derived from a European test standard.

Parallel importers - who typically bring in Japanese cars - find it hard to get the numbers, as their stocks are from car dealers in Japan. Their economy data is thus based on the Japanese test standard. Until a test lab is set up in Singapore towards the end of the year, they have to send their cars to Hong Kong for the required European figures.

Mr Neo Nam Heng, president of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, a body of parallel importers and used car dealers, said the association had spent about $100,000 testing over 30 models so far.

They account for less than half of the parallel-imported models sold here.

The association is trying to get more traders to share the cost of testing. To persuade more to join its fold of close to 400 traders, Mr Neo said it is waiving membership fee of $180 this year.

'We're also passing a 15 per cent tax rebate to traders who rent our premises. On top of that, we're offering a 7.5 per cent rental discount,' he said.

Meanwhile, some authorised agents welcomed the extension to October. These included those importing Chinese makes.

Mr Kevin Kwee, executive director of Group Exklusiv, which imports China's Geely cars, said 'we are still sorting things out for a few models'.

Stiff penalties are in place for non-compliance, including fines and jail terms for those caught tampering with figures. The NEA will conduct periodic checks.

Commenting on the label, Singapore Environment Council executive director Howard Shaw said it would have been more useful if it included information on how the car compares with others.