On Monday 5 March, MEPs in Parliament’s transport committee expressed their support for the draft own initiative legislative report by Ismail Ertug (S&D, Germany) on motor vehicle odometer tampering. This support was offered during a discussion on the amendments submitted to this text.
This position does not come as any surprise given the observations formulated by MEPs during a debate on this theme in January (see EUROPE 11937). Dominique Riquet (ALDE, France) and Michael Cramer (Greens/EFA, Germany) could not conceal their glee and referred to an “excellent report”. The same sentiments were expressed by Georges Bach (EPP, Luxembourg) who said that he was delighted with the future cooperation between the rapporteur and the future rapporteurs.
Although solutions have already been developed in the Netherlands and Belgium, no solution has as yet been implemented at a European Union level to tackle these practices, which artificially increase the value of second-hand vehicle and have had an impact on revenues of between €5.6 and 9.6 billion every year. This is why the text presented by Ertug advocates implementation of a data exchange system on odometer calculations.
A consensus appears to have been obtained for introducing a genuine legal framework and for the European Commission to produce proposals in this connection.
Several technologies have been examined as a means of tackling this fraudulent practice, particularly by way of the block chain, although this solution does not appear appropriate in the short-term due to the uncertainties surrounding it.
Both Ertug and Wim Van de Camp (EPP, Netherlands) have denounced the Commission's inaction and the fact that the distribution of the different competencies between its services has so far been unclear. MEPs have therefore expressed their wish to develop a robust text in view of obtaining, “concrete responses from the European Commission", as stated by the chairperson of Parliament's transport committee, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France).
Commission representatives have also expressed several reservations about the draft report and a number of the amendments. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)