On Tuesday 24 February, the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) examined the amendments to the reports on the roadworthiness package (see EUROPE 13784/9). While the first, on registration documents and the exchange of information between Member States, is fairly consensual, the one on roadworthiness tests is a little less so.
Johan Danielsson (S&D, Swedish), rapporteur for the first, explained that the proposed amendments mainly relate to: the balance between better data availability and data protection; the administrative burden for national authorities and citizens; interoperability between national vehicle registers; the need to ensure legal clarity in cross-border situations.
Alexandra Mehnert (EPP, German) said she was in favour of simplification, as well as stronger action to combat crime, in particular odometer fraud. “We need to be able to record and store data, but only where it adds value”, she said. “So I would be in favour of the decision being taken by the Member States”.
For her part, Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA, Luxembourgish) would like to create an ownership register for bicycles, in order to combat the many thefts that occur in Europe.
Read the amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/kwb
Frequency of technical inspections. No fewer than 546 amendments were tabled for the second report. Sérgio Gonçalves (S&D, Portuguese) said he “fully understood that it was not necessarily justified to decide from what year, from what age, the limit for annual checks should be set”, but “it should not be controversial that from a certain age, the vehicle should be subject to annual and not biennial checks”.
On the other hand, Rachel Blom (PfE, Dutch) felt that an annual roadworthiness test was “practically unfeasible”. “We know that the increase in roadworthiness tests is linked to a reduction in the accident rate, but it will have a greater impact on businesses and people on lower incomes”, she said. “I think we need to consider inspectors who are able to work with effective tools” she suggested, referring to new technologies that could be introduced at a later date.
For his part, Asger Christensen (Renew Europe, Danish) felt that the Member States should decide on the frequency of testing.
Finally, Ms Metz strongly supported the European Commission’s proposal to introduce new test methods for ultra-fine particles and nitrogen oxides to capture high emitting vehicles. She was of the opinion that it was important to measure and detect air pollution, for health and environmental reasons. “I found it extremely worrying that amendments from some right-wing MEPs are trying to weaken these provisions by making testing voluntary. That is not being balanced or proportionate”, she said. In her view, this is a case of being “negligent and irresponsible towards all those suffering or even dying because of air pollution”.
Read the amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/kwe; https://aeur.eu/f/kwe (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)