March 2005
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
The European Parliament Transport Committee held a first examination of Mr. Vatanen’s (a Finnish Christian Democrat MEP who was reelected in 2004 on the French candidate list) report on the European Commission’s Road Safety Action Plan. This is an issue which has been on the legislative table for a long time now. In the first instance, the Commission took a couple of years longer than originally expected to propose its plan which aims to put in place measures to reduce accident fatalities by 50% by 2010 – this was due to political priority process – and as a result the Plan was adopted in mid-2003 rather than a few years earlier. Secondly, when the Plan was sent to the European parliament for its views in Autumn 2003, Mr. Vatanen was called upon to draft his Report – but was soon thereafter told that it was not a priority dossier to be examined before the 2004 EP elections – resulting in a year long delay for this part of the institutional process. As you can see, things can take time in Brussels! However, back in 2003, Andrew Burt (FIVA General Secretary) met with Mr. Vatanen to discuss the sometimes potential negative impact of road safety legislation on the use of historic vehicles. At that time, FIVA was well received and Mr. Vatanen indicated his willingness to table an amendment stating (or words to the effect of) “The impact of planned legislation to improve road safety must also take into consideration any unintentional but potentially negative impact on the use – and therefore also preservation - of historic vehicles. Historic vehicles in this context are defined as any motorised vehicle over 25 years old, maintained in a proper and environmentally sound manner and in a historically correct condition, whether in use on the road or preserved in a collection.” The report Mr. Vatanen has now tabled to the Committee did not include this amendment. However, Mr. Vatanen’s office has said that this amendment was not included in the report because it is a brief report addressing a few key headline issues. However, he fully intends to do so as an amendment to his report before the end of April. We will continue to maintain a dialogue to try to ensure he does do so. Please see below for details of the Report.
An issue which has taken a certain amount our time over the past month concerns tyres. The Commission proposed last year a Directive designed to restrict the placing on the market and use of extender oils and tyres containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) above certain thresholds on the grounds that they are carcinogenic (see last months update). Since then – following discussions with various section of the tyre industry, the European Commission and MEPs (with the help of Georges Ioannides in Cyprus – the EP rapporteur is a Cypriot MEP, Adamos Adamou), FIVA is still assessing the potential threat of this legislation – but the evidence so far suggests that the Directive may need to be amended so that it will not have an impact on the historic vehicle movement.
FIVA was able to raise both of these and other points at a meeting of the FIA Historic Commission on 1 April under the new Chairmanship of Michel de Thomasson. Mr. de Thomasson invited FIVA’s Legislation Commission (represented by Geoff Smith (FIVA Vice-President) and Andrew Turner of EPPA), to explain the Commission’s role and activities. FIVA was warmly welcomed by the FIA Commission, and we were not only able to agree to coordinate closely on regulatory matters, but also agreed to use the knowledge of one of the FIA Commission members to help with the monitoring (and any necessary action) of the UN in Geneva.OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIALOGUE
As mentioned above, Mr Vatanen’s report on the Commission’s road safety plan addresses headline points. In it he:
• Emphasises subsidiarity – whilst also stressing that it should not be used as an excuse for complacency or inaction on road safety matters;
• Urges the Commission to propose in its mid-term review of the Road Safety Action Programme a comprehensive and permanent EU Road Safety Framework with targets which can be measured yearly;
• Calls on the EU Presidency to host a Conference in 2005 which will encourage top-level political decision makers to strongly commit themselves to reducing road accidents;
• Supports the establishment of the European Road Safety Agency and says that it should have a clear statutory responsibility for all road safety domaines and recommends that the Agency include an Observatory with the task to promote best practices and the enhancement of cross-border information exchange;
• Supports the European Road Safety Charter;
• states that only an integrated system approach involving all domaines of road safety - all road users and especially the driver, the vehicle and the infrastructure - can lead to significant and lasting results;
• Recognises that a newer car fleet would also be a safer one and regrets that annual road taxes have not yet replaced car registration taxes – believing that the former will improve the functioning of the internal market and stimulate the introduction of newer and safer cars;
• Calls on Commission to pay more attention, in both quantitative and qualitative terms, to the road network when planning the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T);
• Supports the concept of a framework directive on safe infrastructure management which could establish operational procedures for the design, construction and operational stages of new and existing roads to ensure that they meet all safety standards;
• Calls for cost-efficiency analysis for every action having a considerable financial impact and every major action to be undertaken and recommends that when the benefit is likely to be insignificant, the Commission should explain why it has come to its conclusion;
• Calls on the Commission to propose a list of priority areas in which technological research should be focused – and calls for a cost-benefit analysis to be undertaken on each;
• Recognises that introducing new technologies can be expensive and that new car buyers are not always able or willing to pay the full cost even though the socio-economic cost savings would be higher than the added cost to the vehicle. He therefore calls on the Commission to define fiscal and other incentives to accelerate the introduction of solutions and enhance their introduction through a reformed and more exhaustive EuroNCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme). He also calls on EuroNCAP to incorporate other passive safety aspects, such as whiplash protection, motorway speed crash-testing of windscreens and roof sections and the compatibility of vehicles in the event of car-on-car impact.
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The FIVA Legislation Commission members are: Geoff Smith, (Chairman); Winfried Kallinger; Svend Aage Tholstrup; Adalberto Gueli; David Davis, Tiddo Bresters, Horst Bruning, Patrick Rollet, and CarlaFiocchi (Secretariat)