The European Parliament adopted by 677 votes to 4, with 6 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 as regards specific measures on L-category end-of-series vehicles in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, taking over the Commission proposal.
The COVID-19 crisis has caused disruption to the supply chain of critical parts and components for L-category vehicles (motorbikes) and a sizeable drop in demand for those vehicles. This has led to significant delays for manufacturers in clearing their stock of Euro 4 vehicles that, according to Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, need to be registered before the application of the environmental Euro 5 step on 1 January 2021.
In the context of the current COVID-19 epidemic, the main objective of the proposal is to amend the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 relating to the number of end-of-series vehicles in order to allow that vehicles complying with a type of vehicle whose EU type-approval will lose its validity on 1 January 2021 can be made available on the market, registered or put into service as end-of-series vehicles until 31 December 2021.
The number of vehicles benefiting from these specific end-of-series measures should not exceed the number of vehicles of category L Euro 4 that were in stock on 15 March 2020.
Manufacturers wishing to benefit from this derogation should submit a request to the national authority of each Member State in which the vehicles in question are to be made available on the market. The national authority concerned should then decide whether or not to allow the registration of these end-of-series vehicles on its territory and in what quantity.