Car industry: approval for the production of retreated pneumatic tyres, UN/ECE Regulation 109

PURPOSE: to present a proposal for a Council Decision on the accession of the European Community to Regulation 109 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe concerning the approval for the production of retreaded pneumatic tyres for commercial vehicles and their trailers. CONTENT: following Council Decision 97/836/EC of 27 November 1997, the EC became the Contracting Party to the 1958 Revised Agreement of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) on 24 March 1998 and acceded to 78 regulations annexed to this agreement. Article 3(3) of this Decision stipulates that the Community may decide to apply a regulation to which it has not acceded at the time of its accession to the Revised Agreement where the Council, upon receiving the assent of the European Parliament, has approved this regulation by a qualified majority. Regulation 109 concerning the approval for the production of retreaded pneumatic tyres for commercial vehicles and their trailers seeks in particular to remove the technical obstacles to the trade in motor vehicles between the contracting parties while at the same time ensuring a high degree of safety and environmental protection. Even though this regualtion is not mentioned in the list of regulations recognised by the EC included in Annex II to Decision 97/836/EC, the representatives of the Member States have indicated that it would be useful for the EC to examine the possibility of acceding to it, without however incorporating it in the motor vehicle type-approval procedure. Against this background, this proposal for a decision is designed to enable the Community to accede to Regulation 109 of the UN-ECE concerning the approval for the production of retreaded pneumatic tyres for commerical vehicles and their trailers.�