Frontal impact resistance of motor vehicles (amend. Directive 70/156/EEC)

Overall, the Economic and Social Committee endorsed the aims and the requirements of the proposal for a directive. It considered, however, that if ‘stage one’ could be accepted as an adequate instrument for an immediate response from the Community legislator to a serious road safety problem, for reasons of necessity (as the ‘stage two’ requirements were not ready), ‘stage two’ was the legislative instrument that would bring the necessary major changes to road safety as it would significantly reduce the number of road accident victims. The ESC therefore asked that every effort be made as soon as possible to ensure that the Commission’s final dates for ‘stage two’ were respected. In this regard, the ESC welcomed the sense of responsibility shown by the Commission, which had agreed to present by 1 October 2002 a report on the implementation of the directive and on the ability of the industry to meet the 1 October 2003 deadline. The ESC called on the Commission to provide it with a copy of the report.