ACEM, the motorcycle industry in Europe, has published the June 2012 issue of its newsletter.
The ACEM newsletter includes an article about the Earthquake in Italy which has hit motorcycle production; a call that includes €107 million funding for EU research in the European Green Vehicles Initiatie; ETSC’s (European Transport Safety Council) Road Safety Index as well as other interesting articles include reports that the EU Motorcycle Market Heads into Deeper Recession, with a drop of 15% in the January – May 2012 period.
The Italian Industry Association has presented plans to counter this crisis and calls on its Government for tailored measures to revive the PTW market with a set of measures for intervention against the decline of the market.
ACEM reports that at the IMMA (International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association) General Assembly in Madrid elected a new President, who is the President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and welcomed the Chinese Motorcycle Industry Association as a new member.
The report continues that, “IMMA works closely with legislators and consumers and communicates with international establishments such as the United Nations, the UN Working Party on General Road Traffic Safety, World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.”
The ACEM report comments that IMMA’s main task lies in global harmonisation under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and represents the interests of Powered Two-Wheeler manufactures across the world. Apart from Europe, which is represented by ACEM, Australia, Canada, India, China, the US and Asia, including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, The Philipines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, hold a seat within IMMA. Together they account for 50 million motorcycles, scooters and mopeds produced every year.
If you have been following the European Commission Regulation proposal regarding the – Approval and market surveillance of two – or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles – you will know that part of the proposal is to radically simplify the current legislative set of 15 Directives by replacing them with just 5 Regulations with a a further simplification measure to refer wherever possible to globally harmonised vehicle legislation, such as that developed by the United Nations Economic Committee for Europe (UNECE), without compromising the high standards to which vehicles already comply today in the EU.
ACEM comments that the motorcycle industry is ideally position to deal with any issues that could affect them globally.
Although we are somewhat mystified why at this level there does not seem to be any active representation to globally “protect riders rights”. There is no longer a representative of riders’ rights organisations across the globe at the UNECE and this leaves riders in a very vulnerable position.
In the newsletter editorial, Jacques Compagne the ACEM General Secretary concludes, “As regards the Regulation on Two- Three- and four-wheeled L-category vehicles, the discussions in the EP and Council appear to be drawing to a close. The process has been an uphill struggle so far, but we were able to straighten out several important details which, if left alone, would have seriously compromised the objective of creating a reliable and favourable framework determining a stable business environment for the motorcycle industry – a critical priority in these difficult times.”
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