Following the second reading of this proposed Directive, the European Parliament tabled 27 amendments, of which the Commission accepted 7 totally, 2 in principle, 3 partly and rejected 15 completely. The Commission has classified the amendments into six groups.
Firstly, those introducing a mandatory '2006' stage. Under these amendments, Parliament has sought to introduce further reductions in emission limits, applicable from 2006, whereby motorcycles should achieve the same level of emission control as the current "EURO III" limits for passenger cars. The Commission however, is of the view that the test cycles proposed by the Parliament (i.e. EURO III limits) are technically inferior to the recently formulated motorcycle tests, which are currently being evaluated. The Commission therefor rejects all those amendments related to the mandatory introduction of limits by 2006. It is, on the other hand, prepared to assist in finding an agreement between the institutions on this matter.
The second set of amendments relate to the EURO II application dates for mopeds. Here, the Parliament has sought to set the application date for new type approvals of moped under the EURO II application as 1 January 2003. Since this has already been covered by an existing Directive (97/24/EC), the Commission has decided to reject this amendment.
The third set of amendments relate to durability requirements. The Commission has again decided to reject all amendments relating to durability, since it prefers the wording set out in the Council.
The fourth set of amendments relate to the use of conformity requirements, in which the Parliament has sought to specify the introduction of in use conformity requirements by proposing 2006/07 as an application date. The Commission can accept these amendments partly but has deleted references to the date and has added "if appropriate".
The fifth set of amendments relate to CO2 emissions. Under this section, the Commission has agreed to include motorcycles when considering future measures to combat climate change. However, on the question of test procedures the Commission has rejected this specific amendment since it does not address requirements for small motorcycles and mopeds, already requested by the Council. Similarly, an amendment seeking to incorporate motorcycles in the strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars is rejected on the grounds that it pre-empts proposals currently under preparation in the Commission.
Lastly, the Commission has accepted either fully, partly or in principle, the following miscellaneous amendments:
- Allowing Member States to introduce financial incentives to re-equip older vehicles.
- Concerning defeat devices and cycle bypass prevention.
- Amendments, which are editorial in nature.
- Two amendments seeking Commission proposal on particulate matter standards for tricycles and quadricycle.�