Transport safety: type-approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles (amend. Directive 92/61/EEC)

PURPOSE: to facilitate the effective operation of the whole vehicle type approval for two- and three-wheel motor vehicles and the uniform application by all Member States of the administrative and technical requirements relating to the type approval. CONTENT: The main aims of the measures are: - to exclude from the scope of the acceptance procedure certain cycles with pedal assistance; - to clarify, in all the language versions of Directive 92/61/EEC, that the type approval procedure does not apply to single vehicles; - to provide more precise definitions of the terms 'variant' and 'version'; - to supplement the type-approval certificate by attaching thereto a document pertaining to the test results concerning noise and exhaust emissions, and to introduce a numbering system for this certificate; - to inform the competent authorities of the Member States and the Commission prior to any request aiming at having information other than that mentioned on the model presented in Annex IV section A included on the certificate of conformity; - to provide a better specification of the period of validity of the approvals and certificates granted at national level before the entry into force of the Community provisions; and - to introduce special dispensations for end-of-series vehicles as well as for vehicles, components and technical units designed according to techniques or principles which are by nature incompatible with certain specific requirements. The proposal also stipulates that the Member States should take the necessary measures for the transposition into national law to be effected before 1 January 2002, the date after which the Directive can be implemented on an optional basis and at the manufacturer's request. The proposed date for entry into force on a mandatory basis is 1 July 2002, which thus leaves a six-month period of optional application between the date of transposition and the date on which mandatory implementation commences. The main aims of the amendments listed in the annex of the proposal are: - to replace the information document by a new document containing more comprehensive information and on which the essential features are easily spotted; - to provide more detailed instructions concerning the documents to be annexed to the type-approval certificate; - to rule out any forging of the certificates of conformity; - to introduce a system of numbering of the type-approval and component type-approval certificates; - to add a document relating to the results of tests on noise and exhaust emissions; and, lastly, - to add specific requirements governing the number of end-of-series vehicles authorised to be put into service in each Member State.�