At Right To Ride we like looking at the small, trifling details of motorcycle technicalities and there is no better place to find all of this than at the European Commission – DG Enterprise and Industry – Automotive Industry Committees and Expert Working Group Motorcycle Working Group (MCWG) which held a meeting today 17th December 2014.
It was this group, during the regulation proposal for the Approval and market surveillance of two – or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles – Type Approval – “Anti-Tampering” Regulation – where discussions and decisions took place about the status of the proposed technical regulations within the delegated and implementing acts.
These acts “drive” the technicalities of the proposal, which were agreed in December 2012:
- Regulation on vehicle functional safety requirements (RVFSR) – Delegated Act
- Regulation on environmental and propulsion performance requirements (REPPR) – Delegated Act
- Regulation on vehicle construction requirements (RVCR) – Delegated Act
- Regulation on administrative requirements (RAR) – Implementing Act
However the MCWG is still going through some of the finer details of these acts, with the regulation as a whole to be implemented by 1st January 2016.
It was once questioned in the “motorcycle community” how can this regulation could be agreed on by the European Parliament, EU Commission and member states when the full details were not known or had not been decided.
The answer is that it is all within the European process and the MCWG is attended by a range of stakeholders, including FEMA – Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations, FIM – Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (Public Affairs) giving riders a voice and input, as well as Member States Government representatives, the motorcycle industry ACEM and other interested Organisations and Associations, a “democratic” smorgasbord of business, market forces, elected governments and citizen representation?
Today’s meeting of the MCWG (apart from discussing the status of these Delegated and Implementing Acts) is also looking at other issues (we won’t go into great depth here, however here is a brief glance).
Brief Glance
Amendments to UNECE regulations regarding anti-lock braking and “switches” that can disable the system – especially as new and updated systems, are coming onto the market with different mode settings for the riding conditions – this appears to be in order to regulate the conditions under which it is permissible to equip a motorcycle with a switch allowing to deactivate the mandatory antilock brake system.
There is nothing in the regulation that says a switch cannot be fitted or has to be fitted – remember mandatory anti-lock brakes for certain categories of new type approved motorcycles sold in Europe comes into force in 2016.
The Euro 5 Emissions study to evaluate the air quality and the share of pollutants contributed by L-category vehicles and discussions regarding catalytic converters and OBD – On Board Diagnostics.
The Enhancement of UN Regulations on sound test requirements for mopeds and some types of quadricycles, before accession by the EU and replacement of the mandatory noise test requirements. This is in response to frequent requests by citizens to improve the sound level of mopeds and quads as well as replacement silencers for all L category vehicles.
There is talk for stricter anti-tampering regulations for motorcycles although you might think that on the street whatever anti-tampering regulation is in place the “noise problem” is down to resolution by enforcement by authorities, either by police officers or through road worthiness testing – or riders not fitting or tampering with “legal” original or “legal” aftermarket exhausts.
Another mandatory “feature” to be introduced is the fitting of AHO (Automatic Headlight On) which the motorcycle industry has already been doing to the majority of their bikes for the European Market since a voluntary agreement to do so from about 2002. The technical minutiae of Type Approval is still looking at the obligation to fit automatic switching-on off.
As a European Citizen, if you have an interest, you can go and read for yourself all the available documents from the MCWG back to 2005 and can receive updates and details via registering your details.
But it is about understanding and interpreting correctly all this technical minutiae.
However to get to these documents is a bit of a torturous route which we have set out below
Brief Explanation
In this article we have mentioned – Type Approval (Whole Vehicle Type Approval) which is based around a European Directive.
Vehicle regulations within Type Approval are requirements that automobiles must satisfy in order to be sold in a particular country e.g. EU Member State.
Global Technical Regulations (GTRs) – The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations is a working party (WP.29) of the Inland Transport Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It is tasked with creating a uniform system of regulations, called UN(ECE) Regulations, for vehicle design to facilitate international trade.
GTRs are formulated from UNECE Regulations or on national regulations and attempt to harmonize these, as the tile suggest globally.
These Directives – Regulations – Type Approval seek to make vehicles safer and more environmentally sound, especially now as present and future technological innovations surpass current regulations.
From around 2004 the EU has been completing a programme of EU accession to UNECE regulations in the area of vehicle approval – one rule for all!
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Information Links
An Internet Trek – How to get to the MCWG – Motorcycle Working Group – Open up CIRCABC – Communication and Information Resource Centre for Administrations, Businesses and Citizens – Click Here
Top left click on – Browse categories
European Commission List – Click On – Enterprise and Industry
Public Access List – Click On – Automotive Industry Committees and Working Groups
Follow Instructions in red – To access the documents uploaded to this group, please click on “Library” on the left-hand menu.
Spaces List – Click On – Commission Expert Groups –
Spaces List – Click On – MCWG – Motorcycle Working Group
You should then be on the right page – note if you are inactive in that browser window of at least a minute the page will loop back to the – Welcome to CIRCABC – page and you will have to start over again.
On the – Welcome to CIRCABC – page if you click on the European Commission Authentication Service (ECAS) section you can sign up, which will allow you to register to receive notifications – amongst other information – from the MCWG.
FEMA – Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations – www.fema-online.eu
FIM – Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (Public Affairs) – Click Here
Other Sources – UNECE – Click Here
