ATIEL reports rise in signatories confirming compliance with European Engine Lubricants Quality Management System
The number of lubricant marketing companies that have signed a Letter of Conformance (LoC) confirming compliance with the requirements of the European Engine Lubricants Quality Management System (EELQMS) has increased by 20% since the beginning of this year, according to ATIEL, the Association Technique de l’Industrie Européenne des Lubrifiants.
Although voluntary, the EELQMS is the only system that can be used to support claims against the ACEA Sequences, which set the minimum performance specifications for lubricants used in different European automotive engine categories and so enables lubricant marketers to include those performance claims on their product labelling.
In total, some 132 lubricant marketers, both from across Europe and other regions, have now signed and submitted an LoC to ATIEL, which administers the EELQMS on behalf of key industry stakeholders in the quality system.
Among the new signatories in 2016 are lubricants companies based in Argentina, China, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand, demonstrating the increasing global reach of both European lubricant performance specifications and the EELQMS.
The EELQMS was developed jointly by ACEA (The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association), ATC (The Technical Committee of Petroleum Additive Manufacturers in Europe) and ATIEL (The Technical Association of the European Lubricants Industry).
It embraces various quality standards, test methods and procedures, together with industry Codes of Practice and the requirements of the ACEA European Oil Sequences.
Over the past 18 months ATIEL, whose Code of Practice forms a core part of the EELQMS, has stepped up promotion and training around the quality system as part of efforts to improve awareness and understanding of its role in making valid ACEA performance claims, and to safeguard the quality of engine lubricants in the marketplace.
ATIEL reported 22 new LoC signatories in the first six months of 2016, compared with 26 in the previous 12 months.
