Concerning the Approval and Market Surveillance of 2- or 3 Wheel Vehicles and Quadricycles.
We have received from the office of the IMCO Committee chairman Malcolm Harbour, the following brief:
The informal trialogue negotiations between the EP and the Council have now come to a close and the responsible Member State Permanent Representatives will discuss the outcome of these negotiations in September (COREPER) with a view to agreeing the detailed points below.
Both the Danish and Cypriot Presidency, which took over on 1st July and the IMCO negotiating team have shown willingness to achieve a first reading deal.
We believe that such a deal is now achievable.
Taking into account the procedures which need to be followed once we have a deal (verification by lawyers, translations, official transmissions, etc), the Plenary vote by the full Parliament will not take place before October or November and Council’s final confirmation of the new Regulation, the following month.
Anti-tampering measures
Since there was never any intention to restrict rider-modifications and the replacement of parts with aftermarket parts, the agreed amendments are about restricting anti-tampering measures to manufacturer obligations which apply before type approval is granted.
These are designed to ensure key safety or emissions requirements cannot easily be tampered with by unscrupulous individuals. Motorcycle enthusiasts and riders with special needs will continue to be able to modify their vehicles and the aftermarket part sales and the repair and maintenance sectors will not be affected.
Furthermore, higher powered motorcycles are entirely excluded from the application of these measures and the anti-tampering measures required of manufacturers only cover low performance motorbikes and mopeds.
Any proposals for policing or compliance checking and further testing in this Regulation have been abandoned.
Summary
To summarise and reiterate what we wrote on June 22nd, which is what we believe interests the vast majority of motorcyclists:
“The Parliament has agreed to Council’s position on not mandating ABS on scooters (50 to 125cc), it has also agreed with the Council on limiting the anti-tampering provisions to lesser powered motorcycles only and making them manufacturer obligations only, so categories L3eA2 and L3eA3 are entirely excluded from the anti-tampering measures. The Parliament has also agreed to not having detailed EU rules on Individual Approval in this Regulation, with this left to national rules”.
Of course as the brief mentions, there are some issues that need tidying up and the caveat is that it will require formal approval from Council.
In other words, this is the state of play, BUT it ain’t over till the fat lady sings!
Full details at Right To Ride EU – Click Here
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