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EU Presidency comments on Type Approval

European-commission

 

On November 17 2016, the European Council Presidency published  information note on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles (First reading).

 

The note explains the current state of play regarding type approval, the main changes put forward so far, outstanding issues and a conclusion.

 

Current state of play

Below is a timeline of input regarding type approval:

  • 28 January 2016: Commission tables proposal to the European Parliament and to the Council;
  • Working Party on Technical Harmonisation examines proposal on 12 occasions during Dutch and Slovak Presidencies;
  • 9 & 21 March 2016: Impact assessment examined;
  • 25 May 2016: European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) issues opinion;
  • 26 January 2017: Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) leading on Type Approval to vote. Rapporteur Daniel Dalton (ECR, UK).

 

Main changes to the text

Discussions at Working Party meetings have so far resulted in:

  • Clarifying and complementing a number of technical provisions, in particular the Articles concerning the general provisions on the certificate of conformity both in paper and electronic format;
  • Simplifying the system for registration or entry into service of end-of-series vehicles (Article 47);
  • Clarifying that there is an obligation for Member States to finance market surveillance activities but that the means to be used to that purpose should be left to Member States (Article 30);
  • Turning a large number of delegated acts into implementing acts.

 

Outstanding issues

The Presidency believes the main difficulty within this file lies in the fact that two blocks of countries appear divided on the approach to be followed for the revision of the type-approval system for motor vehicles.

 

While several delegations are in favour of significant changes to the type-approval system and to the market surveillance rules along the lines of the Commission proposal, a majority of delegations continue to have serious misgivings on several points which touch upon important aspects of the proposal and would rather opt for a minimal adaptation of the existing type-approval rules.

 

This difference in opinion affects the following provisions:

  • Compliance verification through the Commission (Article 9);
  • Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement (Article 10);
  • Validity of the type-approval certificate (Article 33);
  • Peer-review of type approval authorities (Article 71);
  • Assessment and designation of technical services (Article 77).

 

Conclusion

The Presidency revealed its intention to continue the examination at Working Party level with a view to making progress on the remaining outstanding technical and political issues until the end of its term.

 

The Presidency also invites the Council to take on-board the comments raised in this note.

 

To read the full document, please click here.

 

Source: Council of the European Union

 

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