The EU Parliament has voted through the final draft of the Type Approval text.
- 643 MEPs in favour
- 16 MEPs against
- 18 MEPs abstention
The new regulation will replace fifteen existing EU Directives with a single framework. The much feared anti-tamper provisions which sparked a wave of protests last year have been clarified to apply only to manufacturers, and only to motorcycles which are restricted. As we reported previously, Article 18a which would have required official inspections of modifications has been dropped entirely, and while the new regulation doesn’t give us everything we might have wanted, it’s not as bad as it might have been.
MAG Ireland has worked closely with FEMA (The Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations) to help ensure the views of Irish riders are heard at EU level throughout this process. While the text is now passed, the delegated acts remain a work in progress, and we’ll continue to put forward the views of Irish riders via FEMA who will represent member organisations including MAG Ireland in that process. We’ll have a further post on this aspect in due course.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Right to Ride have posted a statement by Malcolm Harbour MEP, Chairman of the parliament’s internal market committee that worked on the proposals welcoming the outcome which he describes as:
…the culmination of a great deal of listening to biking enthusiasts so that we could put in place a law that makes two, three and four wheeled machines safer and cleaner, without ruining their cherished hobby.
See the full piece on the Right to ride web site here:
http://www.righttoride.eu/?p=10530
We in MAG Ireland will be coming back to this issue shortly with a review of the new regulation and what it means for you as a rider. You can find our previous posts on this issue here:
https://www.magireland.org/category/typeapproval/