Technical roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles circulating in the Community

The report by Frits Castricum (PSE/NL), which approves the proposal for a Council Directive on the roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles circulating in the Community, was adopted by the European Parliament. The report contains amendments to the initial proposal, notably relating to the following areas: - standardisation of the relevant forms, to avoid language difficulties in connection with inspections in the Member States; - combining inspections consistent with the proposed Directive with other inspections of commercial vehicles in use on public roads; - requiring Member States to consult the Commission before organising appropriate and frequent roadside inspections; - requiring information given by Member States to the Commission every two years, concerning the number of commercial vehicles checked, to be forwarded to the European Parliament; - requiring the examiner to take into account certain documentation before conducting checks, and not to check any points which have been checked in the past three months, unless there is specific justification for doing so; - in the case of examined vehicles which are found to present a serious risk to traffic, requiring their immobilisation for immediate towing to an approved test centre; - requiring a copy of the test centre certificate to be forwarded to the inspection service which noted the defects; - ensuring that, for vehicles which are not banned from public roads as a result of examination, the period of immobilisation for inspection is as short as possible; - specifying in what way the Member States should help one another with the implementation of the proposed directive and requiring them to consult one another on harmonisation of penalties; - allowing for the possibility that non-resident owners of seriously or repeatedly deficient vehicles may be prosecuted according to the law of the Member State where the deficiency was recorded; - requiring that the proposed directive may enter into force only after conducting certain preparatory arrangements; - giving Member States a further 6 months to adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the proposed directive (i.e. until 01/07/99) and for commencement of its application (i.e. from 31/12/99); - adding "vehicles for animal transportation" to the list of vehicles and "evidence of fuel and/or oil spillage" to the list of deficiencies covered by the proposal.�