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As with every new piece of legislation, there has to be rules, documents, explanations around it. And at the moment all that has been released is a blanket rule that a diesel must have a CAT or CAT/DPF if originally fitted... there is no supporting information been released.

I spend half of my life, reading, understanding, making sense of documentation and more importantly legislation - as you 'have' to understand what you can and can't do. There are lots of things that will often be considered close to the edge - often referred to as 'not really in the spirit of the rules' - but in reality if what are doing doesn't actually cross the line, then you are not doing anything wrong - apart from stretching the window of possibility.

There is no way they can make a blanket statement that a vehicle must be fitted with a CAT if it was originally supplied with it.... for the reason how will the MOT tester know what the specification of the vehicle was?

Some of the MOT testers I've met struggle to write their name, let alone have a in-depth knowledge of every vehicle.

Lets look at some examples:

Take a 2001MY Defender that was the last 2001MY Defender produced on the line. This was built to EU2 spec and did not require a CAT to meet that legislation.

The next vehicle on the track was the first 2002MY Defender. This was built to EU3 specification and did require a CAT. Both are registered as 2002 Vehicles.

How will an MOT tester know that the 2001MY model didn't have a CAT from new, but the 2002MY version did.

Unless they are introducing a new database system - they won't. But this hasn't been mentioned yet....

Perhaps they are working on a huge database... but in reality I don't think this would be in place for any 'semi' modern vehicle.


It could be a blanket rule based on year, but this would require some serious investigation and huge knowledge of Emissions Classes. A Defender does not come under the same rules as emissions as say a Ford Fiesta.

So for a example a 2004 Ford Fiesta would have stricter limits to meet - and thus would require more emissions related components than a 2004 Defender which has a less stringent limit to meet, thus would not require the same control over the engine emissions. Going one step further back and using the 2001 Defender as an example... A 2001 Fiesta Diesel had a CAT, a 2001 Defender didn't....

This is why DPF's have been around for much longer on 'passenger vehicles' (i.e. smaller cars) than say a Defender - which only had a DPF fitted in 2012.


I'm not saying a blanket year wouldn't work, but IMHO it would have to be post 2008 (or there abouts) - which also happens to coinside with the change to MOT rules a few year ago that say the smoke limit level dropped (for post 2008).


At the moment, all of these threads are doing nothing but scaremongering.

Until I see a copy of the rules and regulations (which there has to be!) all of this do I/don't I stuff is pointless.

People also keep mentioning Type Approval - type approved parts is a different subject entirely - and more that you would want to discuss on a forum. A further debate on how effective - and real - the current emission test cyles are would be an equally exciting debate.. not.