MEPs defy member states over tests for motorbikes

MEPs are on the road to conflict with member states after the European Parliament voted by a slim majority on Tuesday (2 July) to include motorbikes in new European Union requirements for vehicle checks.

The outcome rebuffs the Parliament’s transport committee and member states, which have both voted to continue to exempt motorbikes from the requirements. 

The European Commission proposed last year to extend EU rules on mandatory vehicle-testing to include motorbikes and scooters. The current rules date from 1977 and do not cover two- and three-wheeled vehicles. Eleven member states do not conduct safety tests on these vehicles, but these are mostly states where motorbikes are not common.

Member states voted in December to reject the idea and continue excluding motorbikes from the scope. The transport committee followed suit in May. Countries with colder climates where motorbikes are not popular have argued that the additional bureaucracy required to set up approving offices for motorbikes would be an unnecessary expense.

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But Socialist and Green MEPs rejected this argument. “Roadside checks vary widely across different member states; this is why we need harmonised EU rules,” said Olga Sehnalová, a Czech centre-left MEP.

Technical defects are responsible for 8% of accidents involving motorcycles, compared to 6% for vehicles in general, according to the Commission.

German centre-right MEP Werner Kuhn will begin talks with member states on behalf of the Parliament in the coming weeks.

Motorcycle groups assembled outside the Parliament in Strasbourg during the vote. Chris Hodder, of the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA), said they will continue to fight the proposal. “Whilst this is a defeat for FEMA, it is not a victory for the Commission,” he said. “Discussions will continue and we hope and expect that FEMA will be fully consulted on proposals that affect the millions of motorcyclists in the EU.”

The checks would be mandatory for motorcycles from 2016 and mopeds from 2018. But the tests will be dependent on a Commission study to be conducted in the meantime, which must conclude that harmonised testing of mopeds would be effective.

Tractor testing

MEPs did not, however, agree with the Commission’s proposal to extend mandatory checks to small tractors and animal trailers. The proposal would require tractors with a speed of over 40 kilometres per hour and trailers weighing more than 750 kilogrammes to undergo mandatory testing. The MEPs voted to raise this threshold to two tonnes for animal trailers, but to keep the 750kg threshold for caravan trailers.

The new rules would also require vehicle documents be kept in national electronic registers.

The UK’s National Farmers’ Union welcomed the move, saying it was “better than the Commission’s proposals”. But British Conservative MEP Jacqueline Foster said the restriction on caravans “will bring extra costs and inconvenience that could spoil holidays and leisure time”.

MEPs also opposed the member states’ attempt to convert the Commission’s proposed regulation into a directive.