PURPOSE: to improve road safety by the establishment of common minimum requirements and harmonised rules applicable to technical checks on Union vehicles (‘roadworthiness testing’ package).
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Directive 2014/46/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 1999/37/EC on the registration documents for vehicles.
CONTENT: the Directive amends existing requirements contained in the current legal framework for the registration documents for vehicles (Directive 1999/37/EC). It is designed to improve the application of technical testing and roadside inspction regimes, particulary where the roadworthiness of a vehicle constitutes an immediate risk to road safety. The Directive is part of a set of measures on technical testing which also includes: i) a Directive on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers; and ii) a Directive on technical roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles circulating in the Union.
The amendments introduced concern the following points:
Electronic data recording: the Directive provides that Member States shall record electronically data on all vehicles registered on their territory, including the outcome of mandatory periodic roadworthiness tests in accordance with Directive 2014/45/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and the period of validity of the roadworthiness certificate. Technical vehicle data shall be made available to the competent authorities or testing centres for the purpose of periodic roadworthiness testing.
Cancellation and suspension: where vehicles have failures that require them to be withdrawn from circulation, the Directive makes a distinction between the cancellation of the registration of an end-of-life vehicle and the suspension of the authority to use a vehicle, which will be lifted as soon as the vehicle has successfully passed a new roadworthiness test. In this case, no new registration procedure will be required.
Mutual recognition: in the event that the ownership of a vehicle, which has a valid proof of periodic roadworthiness test, changes, the validity of the roadworthiness certificate shall, as a matter of principle, be recognised by Member States.
Mutual assistance: the Member States shall assist one another in the implementation of this Directive. They may exchange information so as to check, before any registration of a vehicle, the latter’s legal status, where necessary in the Member State in which it was previously registered. Such checking may in particular involve the use of an electronic network.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 19.05.2014.
TRANSPOSITION: no later than 20.05.2017. The measures shall apply from 20.05.2018.
DELEGATED ACTS: the Commission may adopt delegated acts in order to update point II.4, second indent and point III.1.A (b) of both Annex I and Annex II, in the event of enlargement of the Union, and to update point II.6 of Annex I in relation to non-mandatory elements in the event of changes of definitions or of the content of certificates of conformity in the relevant Union type-approval legislation. The power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years as from 19 May 2014. The European Parliament or the Council may object to a delegated act within a period of two months from the date of notification (this period can be extended for two months). If the European Parliament or the Council make objections, the delegated act will not enter into force.