Internal market committee supports adoption of crucial vehicle safety standards
In a vote today, the internal market committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament called for an ambitious revision of the General Safety Regulation (GSR) which will help save many lives on the EU’s roads by mandating the next level of safety standards for all new vehicles on the continent. Committee members supported the Commission’s proposal and opposed any watering-down of the new standards.
“CLEPA welcomes today’s vote in the internal market committee, which demonstrates a strong commitment from the Parliament to improving safety on Europe’s roads,” said CLEPA Secretary General Sigrid de Vries. The IMCO committee backed all the safety technologies put forward by the European Commission in its legislative proposal, and MEPs voted against amendments that could have weakened their effectiveness.
According to the impact assessment accompanying the proposed legislation, over 16 years, the revised GSR is expected to reduce the number of road casualties by 24,794, avoid 140,740 serious injuries, and provide an overall net benefit for society of €15.4 bn, considering lives saved and additional costs. The regulation will accelerate the deployment of effective and cost-efficient safety measures, which are already available on the market, and would boost the competitiveness and global leadership of the European automotive industry in this sector. De Vries: “Most safety systems are developed and supplied in Europe. New safety requirements will therefore push forward European research and innovation, contributing to generate growth, jobs, and investment in the EU. They will also pave the way towards connected and automated driving, by increasing the market penetration of technologies that will be required for automated vehicles in the future.”
Automotive suppliers are providing active and passive safety systems with technically and economically mature innovations for all vehicle categories. However, the current EU vehicle safety standards were last updated almost a decade ago. Therefore, CLEPA calls for the EU institutions to finalise the adoption of the revision before the European Parliament goes into recess for the elections. “The revision of the General Safety Regulation has been expected for several years, and it has been subject to numerous delays,” says de Vries, “CLEPA welcomes the rapporteur’s intention to start the trilogue negotiations with the Council very shortly, and hopes that an agreement will be reached in time for the new GSR to be adopted under the current parliamentary term.”
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In: CLEPA News, Safety