May 2006
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIALOGUE
FIVA Legislation Commission meets
On 13-14 May, FIVA’s Legislation Commission met. Issues discussed during the meeting were:
? Structure of the Commission: in order to make more effective FIVA’s EU legislation work, it was agreed that the Commission should be expanded to include representatives from each European Federation (if possible). This larger Commission will receive all communications received by the current Commission and will meet two times a year. The objective is to incentivise action at nation level to meet EU and national legislation challenges. The current Commission members will continue their work on specific policy areas and function as a Working Group of the Commission and therefore continue to meet on a quarterly basis.
? FIVA Drivers Code: the text of FIVA’s Drivers Code for historic vehicles which is FIVA’s commitment to the European Union’s Road Safety Charter was finalised. It will now be prepared for dissemination to the member Federations
? Issues updates and actions: matters discussed were:
o the finalisation of the institutional decisions on the Drivers Licence Directive: the trailer provisions which are satisfactory for FIVA remain; and member federations may now also lobby their governments for a B (car) licence equivalence for driving historic busses and trucks – please contact the Commission Chairman for information if required;
o the Commission consultation and FIVA response to the proposal for retrofitting of blind-spot mirrors to trucks,
o environmental issues, and in particular national road bans – hence also a discussion on the progress of the research project.
? Definition of historic vehicles: the Commission held a discussion on the potential rephrasing of the definition of historic vehicles in light of the growing environmental concerns expressed by decision makers of the environmental impact of “older polluting vehicles” in view of the increasing “cleanliness” of the new cars.
EP Committee vote on the Thematic Strategy on Air pollution postponed
The European Parliament’s Environment Committee postponed its vote on the report by Dorette Corbey (a Dutch socialist) on the Commission’s Thematic Strategy on Air pollution in order to attempt to reach a “First Reading” agreement with the European Council – thereby avoiding future procedural delays. As reported last month, Mrs. Corbey’s Report
? “invites Member States to take the necessary measures to phase out older polluting vehicles or – where appropriate – provide incentives for retrofitting;” and:
? “calls for measures to minimise the use of cars in inner cities; is convinced that environmental zoning that discourages the more polluting cars from entering inner cities provides a strong incentive to modernise the car fleet; stresses that local governments can provide a strong incentive for innovation by purchasing clean cars (EEV, Euro 6 and VI) for the public and semi-public car fleet.”
FIVA will use the additional time to discuss the suggestions that older vehicles be phased out and on environmental zoning with the Rapporteur and members of the Committee to stress the implications of such actions on the historic vehicle movement. The aim is to particularly stress that there is no contradiction in supporting the general principle of “phasing out older polluting vehicles”, whilst wanting to protect the use and preservation of historic vehicles as there is a clear distinction between historic vehicles and “older polluting vehicles”.
INFORMATION
EU road fuel sulphur levels
It has been reported that the previous decline in the levels of sulphur in European petrol and diesel has halted and in fact would have reversed if there had not been a revision of 2003 figures. The reversal is attributed to the higher levels of sulphur in fuel in the new member states.
Vehicle recycling
A study undertaken on behalf of the European Commission has concluded that the targets to reuse or recycle 85% and recover 95% of vehicle waste by 2015 should be maintained in a forthcoming review of the “end-of-life vehicles” directive. The study claims that the target of 95% reuse, recycling or recovery should be retained because of the environmental benefits which would be gained at little cost. It also supported maintaining a subsidiary target to reuse or recycle 85% of cars and even felt it could be raised to 95%, although it offered the caveat that doing so might hamper the development of alternative recovery methods.
These views contrasted with those expressed by a stakeholder group last year that recommended delaying the targets by 5 years or even removing them completely. The review of the targets, which allows for the possibility of legislation to amend them, will be announced later this year.
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The FIVA Legislation Commission members are: Horst Bruning (Chairman); Tiddo Bresters, Andrew Burt, David Davis, Adalberto Gueli, Winfried Kallinger; Patrick Rollet, Svend Aage Tholstrup; and Carla Fiocchi (Secretariat). Andrew Turner of EPPA works with the Committee.