On Tuesday 28 November, with 38 votes in favour and 2 against, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) approved Parliament’s negotiating position on a new regulation to improve road safety for non-road mobile machinery. With 37 votes in favour and 2 abstentions, they also decided to begin interinstitutional negotiations.
This regulation, presented in March by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13153/6), is designed to harmonise road safety requirements for the use of self-propelled mobile machinery, such as agricultural or construction machinery, on public roads. As these machines have hitherto been regulated by the Member States, the regulation will replace existing national regulatory regimes and reduce costs, administrative burdens and delays for businesses.
“Compared to the 27 separate approval regimes today, we deliver towards EU manufacturers by decreasing the administration and all related costs”, commented European Parliament rapporteur Tom Vandenkendelaere (EPP, Belgian) in a statement. “The result is this excellent balance between streamlining procedures and upholding the strongest safety requirements for these machines across the Union”, he added.
In their mandate, the MEPs extended the scope of the regulation to non-road mobile machinery intended by the manufacturer to carry out field tests as part of the machine’s development process. In the case of non-road mobile machinery subject to individual type-approval, the manufacturer may, where appropriate, choose to apply for European type-approval (rapp. 14, ID 61).
They have also set out that, from the date of entry into force, national authorities may not refuse to grant European type-approval for new non-road mobile machinery or prohibit the placing on the market, registration or entry into service of new non-road mobile machinery if it complies, if a manufacturer so requests.
Furthermore, MEPs specified that the regulation should only cover new machinery manufactured by an EU manufacturer or new or second-hand machinery imported from a third country. They included towed equipment and excluded field test prototypes.
Negotiations with the Council of the EU, which determined its mandate at the beginning of November (see EUROPE 13288/8), will be able to begin, unless there is a dispute at the next plenary session.
To read the mandate, go to https://aeur.eu/f/9tc (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)