Objectives

IVA/NSSTA >> COP PLATING/LABELLING AUDITS/COMPLIANCE APPLICATION PROCESS PREPARATION OBJECTIVES

9.10.2007 – Official Journal of the European Union – L 263/1

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),
Whereas:
(1) Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers
(3), has been substantially amended several times. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity.
(2) For the purposes of the establishment and operation of the internal market of the Community, it is appropriate to replace the Member States’ approval systems with a Community approval procedure based on the principle of total harmonisation.
(3) The technical requirements applicable to systems, components, separate technical units and vehicles should be harmonised and specified in regulatory acts. Those regulatory acts should primarily seek to ensure a high level of road
safety, health protection, environmental protection, energy efficiency and protection against unauthorised use.
(4) Council Directive 92/53/EEC of 18 June 1992 amending Directive 70/156/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (4) limited application of the Community whole vehicle type-approval procedure to the vehicle category M1. However, in order to complete the internal market and to ensure that it functions properly, the scope of the present Directive should cover all categories of vehicles, enabling manufacturers to benefit from the advantages of the internal market by means of the Community type-approval.
(5) In order to enable manufacturers to adapt to the new harmonised procedures, a sufficient lead-time should be allowed before Community vehicle type-approval becomes compulsory for vehicles belonging to categories other than M1 that are built in one stage. A longer lead-time is required for vehicles of categories other than M1 that require a multi-stage approval, since that procedure will involve body-builders, who will need to gain sufficient experience in that field so that the necessary procedures can be implemented properly. However, due to the importance of safety for vehicles of category M2 and M3, during the transitional period when national type approval is still valid in order to allow manufacturers to get experience with EC vehicle type approval, it is necessary that those vehicles comply with the technical requirements of the harmonised directives.

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(6) Until now, manufacturers who produce vehicles in small series have been partially excluded from the benefits of the internal market. Experience has shown that road safety
and protection of the environment could be significantly improved if small series vehicles were totally integrated into the Community vehicle type-approval system, starting with category M1.
(7) In order to prevent abuse, any simplified procedure for small series vehicles should be restricted to cases of very limited production; it is therefore necessary to define more precisely the concept of small series in terms of the number of vehicles produced.
(8) It is important to lay down measures enabling vehicles to be approved on an individual basis, in order to allow sufficient flexibility in the multi-stage approval system; however, pending the establishment of harmonised, specific Community provisions, accordancewith their national rules.
(9) Pending application of the Community vehicle typeapproval procedures to categories of vehicles other than M1, Member States should be allowed to continue to grant vehicle type-approvals on a national basis, and transitional provisions should be laid down accordingly.
(10) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (1).
(11) By Council Decision 97/836/EC (2), the Community acceded to the Agreement of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe concerning the adoption of uniform technical prescriptions for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts which can be fitted to and/or used on wheeled vehicles and the conditions for reciprocal recognition of approvals granted on the basis of these prescriptions (Revised 1958 Agreement).
Consequently, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulations to which the Community accedes, in application of that Decision, and amendments to UNECE Regulations to which the Community has already acceded should be incorporated within the Community type-approval procedure either as requirements for EC vehicle type-approval, or as alternatives to existing Community law. In particular, where the Community decides, by means of a Council decision, that a UNECE Regulation shall become part of the EC vehicle type approval procedure and replace existing Community law, the Commission should be empowered to make the necessary adaptations to this Directive. Since those measures
are of general scope and are designed to amend nonessential elements of this Directive or to supplement it by the addition of new non-essential elements, they should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.
(12) For the purposes of better regulation and simplification and in order to avoid having to constantly update existing Community legislation on issues of technical specifications, it should be possible for this Directive or for separate directives and regulations to make references to existing international standards and regulations without reproducing them in the Community legal framework.
(13) In order to ensure that the procedure for monitoring conformity of production, which is one of the cornerstones of the Community type-approval system, has been correctly implemented and functions properly, manufacturers should be regularly checked by the competent authority or by an appropriately qualified technical service appointed for that purpose.
(14) The main objective of the legislation on the approval of vehicles is to ensure that new vehicles, components and separate technical units put on the market provide a high
level of safety and environmental protection. This aim should not be impaired by the fitting of certain parts or equipment after vehicles have been placed on the market or have entered service. Thus, appropriate measures should be taken in order to make sure that parts or equipment which can be fitted to vehicles and which are capable of significantly impairing the functioning of systems that are essential in terms of safety or environmental protection, are subject to a prior control by an approval authority
before they are offered for sale. These measures should consist of technical provisions concerning the requirements that those parts or equipment have to comply with.
(15) These measures should only apply to a limited number of parts or equipment. The list of such parts or equipment and subsequent requirements should be established after
having consulted stakeholders. In establishing the list, the Commission should consult stakeholders on the basis of a report and strive for a fair balance between the requirements of improving road safety and environmental protection, as well as the interests of consumers, manufacturers and distributors in preserving competition in the aftermarket.

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The list of parts and equipment, the essential systems concerned as well as the testing and implementation measures should be determined in accordance with Decision 1999/468/EC. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive or to supplement it by the addition of new nonessential elements, they should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of that Decision.
(17) This Directive constitutes a set of specific safety requirements within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety (1), laying down specific requirements for protecting the health and safety of consumers. Therefore, it is important to establish provisions to ensure that, in case a vehicle presents a serious risk for consumers resulting from the application of this Directive or of the regulatory acts listed in Annex IV, the manufacturer has taken effective protective measures, including the recall of vehicles. Approval authorities should therefore be able to assess whether the proposed measures are sufficient or not.
(18) It is important that manufacturers supply relevant information to vehicle owners in order to prevent misuse of safety devices. It is appropriate to include provisions thereon in this Directive.
(19) It is also important for equipment manufacturers to have access to certain information that is available only from the vehicle manufacturer, that is to say, the technical information, including drawings, required for the development of parts for the aftermarket.
(20) It is equally important that manufacturers make information readily available to independent operators to ensure the repairing and maintenance of vehicles in a fully competitive market. These information requirements have so far been incorporated in Community legislation, and in particular in Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2007 on type approval of motor vehicles with respect to emissions from light passenger and commercial vehicles (Euro 5 and 6) and on access to vehicle repair and maintenance information (2), on the basis that the Commission will present a report, no later than four years after the date of entry into force of that Regulation, on the operation of the system of access to vehicle repair and maintenance information and will consider whether it would be appropriate to consolidate all provisions governing access to such information within a revised framework directive on type approval.
(21) With the aim of simplifying and accelerating the procedure, measures implementing the separate directives or regulations as well as measures for adapting the annexes to this Directive and the separate directives or regulations, in particular to the development of scientific and technical knowledge, should be adopted in accordance with Decision 1999/468/EC. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive or of the separate directives or regulations, or to supplement them by the addition of new non-essential elements, they should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of that Decision. The same procedure should apply to adaptations needed for the type-approval of vehicles intended for persons with disabilities.
(22) Experience shows that appropriate measures may have to be taken without delay with a view to ensuring a better protection of road users where shortcomings have been identified in the existing legislation. For such urgent cases, the necessary amendments to the separate directives or regulations should be adopted in accordance with Decision 1999/468/EC. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of the separate directives or regulations or to supplement them by the addition of new non-essential elements, they should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of that Decision.
(23) Since the objective of this Directive, namely the achievement of the internal market through the introduction of a compulsory system of Community type-approval for all categories of vehicles, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can, therefore, by reason of the scale of the action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve this objective
(24) The obligation to transpose this Directive into national law should be confined to those provisions which represent a substantive change as compared with the earlier Directives. The obligation to transpose the provisions which are unchanged arises under the earlier Directives.
(25) In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making (3), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public.

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(26) This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for transposition into national law and application of the directives set out in Part B of Annex XX.
(27) The requirements of this Directive are in accordance with the principles enshrined in the Action plan entitled ‘Simplifying and improving the regulatory environment’.
(28) It is of particular importance that future measures proposed on the basis of this Directive or procedures to be implemented in application of it should comply with these principles, which have been restated by the Commission in its communication on a Competitive Automotive Regulatory framework for the 21st Century,

Article 2

Scope
1. This Directive applies to the type-approval of vehicles designed and constructed in one or more stages for use on the road, and of systems, components and separate technical units designed and constructed for such vehicles. It also applies to the individual approval of such vehicles.

This Directive also applies to parts and equipment intended for vehicles covered by this Directive.
2. This Directive does not apply to the type-approval or individual approval of the following vehicles:
(a) agricultural or forestry tractors, as defined in Directive 2003/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on type-approval of agricultural or forestry tractors, their trailers and interchangeable towed machinery, together with their systems, components and separate technical units (1) and trailers designed and constructed specifically to be towed by them;
(b) quadricycles as defined in Directive 2002/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 March 2002 relating to the type-approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles (2);
(c) tracked vehicles.
3. Type-approval or individual approval under this Directive is optional for the following vehicles:
(a) vehicles designed and constructed for use principally on construction sites or in quarries, port or airport facilities;
(b) vehicles designed and constructed for use by the armed services, civil defence, fire services and forces responsible for maintaining public order; and
(c) mobile machinery,
to the extent that these vehicles fulfil the requirements of this Directive. Such optional approvals shall be without prejudice to the application of Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery (3).
4. An individual approval under this Directive is optional for the following vehicles:
(a) vehicles intended exclusively for racing on roads;
(b) prototypes of vehicles used on the road under the responsibility of a manufacturer to perform a specific test programme provided they have been specifically designed and constructed for this purpose.

9.10.2007 – Official Journal of the European Union – L 263/5

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive and of the regulatory acts listed in Annex IV, save as otherwise provided therein:
1. ‘regulatory act’ means a separate directive or regulation or a UNECE Regulation annexed to the Revised 1958 Agreement;
2. ‘separate directive or regulation’ means a directive or regulation listed in Part I of Annex IV. This term includes also their implementing acts;
3. ‘type-approval’ means the procedure whereby a Member State certifies that a type of vehicle, system, component orseparate technical unit satisfies the relevant administrative provisions and technical requirements;
4. ‘national type-approval’ means a type-approval procedure laid down by the national law of a Member State, the validity of such approval being restricted to the territory of that Member State;
5. ‘EC type-approval’ means the procedure whereby a Member State certifies that a type of vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit satisfies the relevant administrative provisions and technical requirements of this Directive and of the regulatory acts listed in Annex IV or XI;
6. ‘individual approval’ means the procedure whereby a Member State certifies that a particular vehicle, whether unique or not, satisfies the relevant administrative provisions and technical requirements;
7. ‘multi-stage type-approval’ means the procedure whereby one or more Member States certify that, depending on the state of completion, an incomplete or completed type of vehicle satisfies the relevant administrative provisions and technical requirements of this Directive;
8. ‘step-by-step type-approval’ means a vehicle approval procedure consisting in the step-by-step collection of the whole set of EC type-approval certificates for the systems, components and separate technical units relating to the vehicle, and which leads, at the final stage, to the approval of the whole vehicle;
9. ‘single-step type-approval’ means a procedure consisting in the approval of a vehicle as a whole by means of a single operation;
10. ‘mixed type-approval’ means a step-by-step type-approval procedure for which one or more system approvals are achieved during the final stage of the approval of the whole vehicle, without it being necessary to issue the EC typeapproval certificates for those systems;
11. ‘motor vehicle’ means any power-driven vehicle which is moved by its own means, having at least four wheels, being complete, completed or incomplete, with a maximum design speed exceeding 25 km/h;
12. ‘trailer’ means any non-self-propelled vehicle on wheels which is designed and constructed to be towed by a motor vehicle;
13. ‘vehicle’ means any motor vehicle or its trailer as defined in points (11) and (12);
14. ‘hybrid motor vehicle’ means a vehicle with at least two different energy converters and two different energy storage systems (on-vehicle) for the purpose of vehicle propulsion;
15. ‘hybrid electric vehicle’ means a hybrid vehicle that, for the purpose of mechanical propulsion, draws energy from both of the following on-vehicle sources of stored energy/power:
— a consumable fuel,
— an electrical energy/power storage device (e.g. battery, capacitor, flywheel/generator, etc.);
16. ‘mobile machinery’ means any self-propelled vehicle which is designed and constructed specifically to perform work which, because of its construction characteristics, is not suitable
for carrying passengers or for transporting goods. Machinery mounted on a motor vehicle chassis shall not be considered as mobile machinery;
17. ‘type of vehicle’ means vehicles of a particular category which do not differ in at least the essential respects specified in Section B of Annex II. A type of vehicle may contain variants and versions as defined in Section B of Annex II;
18. ‘base vehicle’ means any vehicle which is used at the initial stage of a multi-stage type-approval process;
19. ‘incomplete vehicle’ means any vehicle which must undergo at least one further stage of completion in order to meet the relevant technical requirements of this Directive;
20. ‘completed vehicle’ means a vehicle, resulting from the process of multi-stage type-approval, which meets the relevant technical requirements of this Directive;
21. ‘complete vehicle’ means any vehicle which need not be completed in order to meet the relevant technical requirements of this Directive;
22. ‘end-of-series vehicle’ means any vehicle that is part of a stock which cannot be registered or sold or entered into service owing to the entry into force of new technical requirements against which it has not been approved;

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23. ‘system’ means an assembly of devices combined to perform one or more specific functions in a vehicle and which is subject to the requirements of any of the regulatory acts;
24. ‘component’ means a device subject to the requirements of a regulatory act and intended to be part of a vehicle, which may be type-approved independently of a vehicle where the regulatory act makes express provisions for so doing;
25. ‘separate technical unit’ means a device subject to the requirements of a regulatory act and intended to be part of a vehicle, which may be type-approved separately, but only in relation to one or more specified types of vehicle where the regulatory act makes express provisions for so doing;
26. ‘original parts or equipment’ means parts or equipment which are manufactured according to the specifications and production standards provided by the vehicle manufacturer for the production of parts or equipment for the assembly of the vehicle in question. This includes parts or equipment
which are manufactured on the same production line as these parts or equipment. It is presumed unless the contrary is proven, that parts constitute original parts if the part manufacturer certifies that the parts match the quality of the components used for the assembly of the vehicle in question and have been manufactured according to the specifications and production standards of the vehicle manufacturer;
27. ‘manufacturer’ means the person or body who is responsible to the approval authority for all aspects of the typeapproval or authorisation process and for ensuring conformity of production. It is not essential that the person or body be directly involved in all stages of the construction of the vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit which is the subject of the approval process;
28. ‘manufacturer’s representative’ means any natural or legal person established in the Community who is duly appointed by the manufacturer to represent him before the approval authority and to act on his behalf in matters covered by this Directive, and where reference is made to the term ‘manufacturer’,
it is to be understood as indicating either the manufacturer or his representative;
29. ‘approval authority’ means the authority of a Member State with competence for all aspects of the approval of a type of vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit or of the individual approval of a vehicle; for the authorisation process, for issuing and, if appropriate, withdrawing approval certificates; for acting as the contact point for the approval authorities of other Member States; for designating the technical services and for ensuring that the manufacturer meets his obligations regarding the conformity of production;
30. ‘competent authority’ in Article 42 means either the approval authority or a designated authority, or an accreditation body acting on their behalf;
31. ‘technical service’ means an organisation or body designated by the approval authority of a Member State as a testing laboratory to carry out tests, or as a conformity assessment body to carry out the initial assessment and other tests or inspections, on behalf of the approval authority, it being possible for the approval authority itself to carry out those functions;
32. ‘virtual testing method’ means computer simulations including calculations which demonstrate whether a vehicle, a system, a component or a separate technical unit fulfils the technical requirements of a regulatory act. For testing purposes, a virtual method does not require the use of a physical vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit;
33. ‘type-approval certificate’ means the document whereby the approval authority officially certifies that a type of vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit is approved;
34. ‘EC type-approval certificate’ means the certificate set out in Annex VI or in the corresponding annex to a separate directive or regulation, the communication form set out in the relevant Annex to one of the UNECE Regulations listed in Part I or Part II of Annex IV to this Directive, being deemed to be equivalent thereto;
35. ‘individual approval certificate’ means the document whereby the approval authority officially certifies that a particular vehicle is approved;
36. ‘certificate of conformity’ means the document set out in Annex IX, issued by the manufacturer and certifying that a vehicle belonging to the series of the type approved in accordance with this Directive complied with all regulatory acts at the time of its production;
37. ‘information document’ means the document set out in Annex I or Annex III, or in the corresponding Annex to a separate directive, or regulation, that prescribes the information to be supplied by an applicant, it being permissible to supply the information document in the form of an electronic file;
38. ‘information folder’ means the complete folder, including the information document, file, data, drawings, photographs, and so on, supplied by the applicant, it being permissible to supply the information folder in the form of an electronic file;

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39. ‘information package’ means the information folder accompanied by the test reports and all other documents added by the technical service or by the approval authority to the information folder in the course of carrying out their functions, it being permissible to supply the information package in the form of an electronic file;
40. ‘index to the information package’ means the document listing the contents of the information package, suitably numbered or otherwise marked so as to identify clearly all the pages, the format of that document being such as to present a record of the successive steps in the management of the EC type-approval, in particular the dates of the revisions and updating.