Approval of motor vehicles and their trailers. Framework Directive

The Commission accepts all 53 of the amendments adopted by European Parliament which were the result of interinstitutional contacts with a view to reaching an agreement at second reading.

- The first group of amendments concern "critical parts". Their purpose is to ensure that better account is taken of the interests of spare parts manufacturers supplying the after-market. A number of points in this Article have also been clarified;

- The second group of amendments allow manufacturers specialised in the conversion of vehicles for disabled people to benefit from a simplified type-approval procedure;

- The third group relates to the legislative aspects of the "comitology" procedure with scrutiny, due to which the text of the articles concerned needed to be brought into line with the most recent wording used by the institutions;

- The fourth group of amendments concern the references to the international regulations which were brought into line with the recommendations of the High Level Working Group in the context of ‘CARS 21’;

- The fifth group of amendments relate to the changes which became necessary after the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union;

- The sixth group of amendments concern transitional provisions intended to make it possible for coach and bus manufacturers to gradually adapt to the new procedures laid down by the Directive without undermining road safety.

The other amendments are drafting amendments aiming to: create a link with the Euro 5 and Euro 6 legislation; make it clear that there is no overlap between the framework Directive and the Machinery Directive; clarify that the technical amendments to the aspects covered by the framework Directive may be made by means of an EC regulation; make type approval possible for any source of energy used for the propulsion of vehicles; make it possible to better define restraint system concepts for adults and children; bring the wording into line with a Resolution recently adopted by working group 29 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.