The Parliament's amendments can be placed into four groups:
- introduction of a mandatory Euro 3 stage. These amendments are rejected by the Commission. Since this has been seen to be an important issue for the Parliament, the Commission will strive to take appropriate steps to introduce a Euro 3 stage based on the newly developed world harmonised test cycle during further discussions in Council or second reading in the Parliament;
- amendments relating to durability, defeat devices, in-use conformity testing and on-board diagnostics (OBD). These are important tools to ensure the maintenance of emission treatment equipment, i.e. catalytic converters, during real life conditions. However, the implementation of such requirements might have considerable implications that need to be carefully assessed with regard to cost-effectiveness, technical feasibility and practical consequences when applied to the motorcycle sector. The Commission also supports measures for cycle by-pass prevention that have also been introduced during discussions in Council. The Commission agree in principle to investigate some of these measures but rejects amendments that pre-empt any final decision on implementation.
- amendments relating to carbon dioxide emissions. These are mostly accepted in principle. The share of motorcycles in total road transport emissions is very small (about 2%) but might increase in the future. The introduction of a harmonised CO2 measurement is indeed a first necessary step.
Miscellaneous amendments. Some are accepted, such as the possibility of introducing financial incentives to re-equip older vehicles, and the limitation of economic impact on small manufacturers when investigating future measures. Other amendments relating to future work, are acceptable in principle or partly but need to be investigated before implementing definitive proposals. The Commission reserves the right of initiative on some of these issues:
- a temporary derogation for trial bikes
- introduction of requirements regarding the inspection and maintenance of motorcycles. The intent is acceptable, but not the date of January 2003.
- particulate limit values for diesel tricycles and quadricycles from 2006
- measures on replacement catalysts.
- examine evaporative emissions and OBM
The postponement of the "all types" date for Euro 2 is not acceptable. �