Type-approval of motor vehicles: reusability, recyclability and recoverability

 The committee adopted the report by Holger KRAHMER ( ALDE , DE ) broadly approving the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure, subject to a few amendments designed to simplify the legislation and keep red tape and related costs to a minimum:

- as the range of types produced by automobile manufacturers is virtually immeasurable, it should be made clear that the type-approval authority should choose reference vehicles in agreement with the manufacturer. The committee also suggested that the following criteria be taken into account: type of bodywork, available trim levels and the available optional equipment which can be fitted under the manufacturer's responsibility;

- type approval should not be granted if the vehicle contains lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium, which were banned under Directive 2000/53/EC;

- the provisions in Article 5 requiring components made of polymers or elastomers to be marked when type-approval checks are carried out would require manufacturers to build additional prototypes, as the relevant components are generally marked at the final pre-production phase (i.e. following the type-approval process). The committee proposed a more practical arrangement whereby the approval authority would have to check whether the manufacturer "has taken the requisite steps" to ensure that the relevant components are marked. In this way, the manufacturer would accept responsibility for marking;

- finally, MEPs wanted a longer transitional period (54 months as opposed to 36 months proposed by the Commission) to avoid administrative bottlenecks.