Brussels, 23/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - In adopting the report by Francesco Ferrari (ALDE, Italy) on the Commission proposal to fit new cars with brake assist systems (BAS) by a large majority (642 votes in favour, 8 against and 7 abstentions) on Wednesday 18 June, the European Parliament has endorsed the compromise negotiated by the rapporteur with the Council. With this informal EP/Council agreement the new regulation should be adopted in the first reading. “The final word lies with the EU member states, however, and I hope that they will agree”, Commission Vice President for Industry Günter Verheugen said following the vote, welcoming the adoption of the Ferrari report.
The proposal approved by the EP is part of a broader package of measures designed to improve car safety, proposed by the Commission at the end of May (EUROPE 9667). It is estimated that brake assist systems could save the lives of some 1100 pedestrians hit by cars in the EU each year. For this reason the Commission is proposing to update the 2003 directive on pedestrian protection by combining it with the 2005 directive concerning frontal protection systems, and imposing the fitting of brake assist systems.
Because of its highly technical nature, the Commission is proposing the adoption of a regulation rather than a directive, to avoid any divergence between the transposition measures and pointless legislation in the member states (as no national transposition will be necessary). The proposal will therefore bring about a simplification of administrative procedures for both the national authorities and the Commission. The compromise text, which Francesco Ferrari has negotiated with representatives of the Council, envisages a more ambitious timetable than that proposed by the European Commission in order to allow the automobile industry to adapt to the new legislation.
Concerning the obligatory fitting of brake assist systems, the European Parliament has succeeded in ensuring that no distinction is made between light vehicles (less than 2.5 tonnes) and heavy vehicles, which will have 24 months to install these systems (instead of the 33 months envisaged by the Commission). Another achievement for the MEPs: the security requirements for vehicles equipped with bull-bars should be the same as those applied to vehicles without such frontal protection. MEPs also obtained a guarantee that the co-legislators would have the opportunity to analyse and judge the effectiveness of these measures once in place and that there will be no automatic replacement of the passive safety requirements with anti-collision systems. Automobile manufacturers should also pay greater attention to the safety information for pedestrians. It is now up to the Council to adopt the text formally. (O.L./transl.fl)