Motor vehicles: heating systems for the passenger compartment (amend. direct. 70/156/EEC, repeal. direct. 78/548/EEC)

At first reading under codecision procedure, the European Parliament adopted the report by Angela Theodora Billingham (PSE,UK), which approves the Commission proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive amending Council directive 78/548/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to heating systems for the passenger compartment of motor vehicles, subject to a number of amendments. These amendments propose that neither the driver nor the passenger should be able to come into contact with parts of the vehicle or hot air liable to cause burns. In cases where the installation of a heater in the passenger compartment of M2 and M3 vehicles should be necessary on technical grounds, it must be compartmented from the passenger compartment by a gas-tight casing made from a heat-resistant material and ventilated to the outside air. The Commission is requested, by 01/10/2001, to draw up proposals for tests of the efficiency of combustion heaters.�