PURPOSE : to make administrative and technical provisions for the type-approval of certain vehicles, with a view to ensuring that their component parts and materials can be reused, recycled and recovered in the minimum percentages laid down.

LEGISLATIVE ACT : Directive 2005/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the type-approval of motor vehicles with regard to their reusability, recyclability and recoverability and amending Council Directive 70/156/EEC

CONTENT : This Directive lays down administrative and technical provisions for the type-approval of certain categories of vehicles with a view to ensuring that their parts and materials can be re-used, recycled and recovered in the minimum percentages set out by the Directive. It lays down specific provisions to ensure that the re-use of component parts does not give rise to safety or environmental hazards.

The Directive applies to vehicles belonging to categories M1 and N1, as defined in Part A of Annex II to Directive 70/156/EEC, and to new or reused component parts of such vehicles. Provisions are laid down to ensure that type-approved vehicles belonging to category M1, and those belonging to category N1, may be put on the market only if they are reusable and/or recyclable to a minimum of 85 % by mass and are reusable and/or recoverable to a minimum of 95 % by mass, as determined by the procedures laid down in the Annexes.

From 15 December 2008, Member States shall refuse to grant EC type-approval or national type-approval to vehicles which does not comply with the requirements of this Directive.

From 15 July 2010, Member States shall, if the requirements of this Directive are not met:

-consider certificates of conformity which accompany new vehicles as no longer valid for the purposes of Article 7(1) of Directive 70/156/EEC;

-refuse the registration, sale or entry into service of new vehicles, save where Article 8(2)(b) of Directive 70/156/EEC applies.

The provisions set out in the Directive will impose on manufacturers the supply of new data relating to type-approval. Directive 70/156/EEC, which establishes the list of data to be submitted for type-approval, will be amended accordingly.

ENTRY INTO FORCE : 15 December 2005

DATE OF TRANSPOSITION : 15 December 2006.

DATE OF APPLICATION : 15 June 2006. Article 7 (on the re-use of component parts) shall apply with effect from 15 December 2006.

Directive 2005/64
OJ L 310 25.11.2005, p. 0010-0027

03634/3/2005

SP(2005)2124

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Holger KRAHMER (ALDE, DE) and agreed a compromise text with the Council. The main points are as follows:

- within 54 months of the entry into force of the directive (instead of 36), Member States will refuse the registration, sale or entry into service of new vehicles which will not comply with rules for re-usability and recyclability;

- the term "competent authority" is replaced by "competent body" throughout the text. It is defined as means an entity, e.g. a technical service or another existing body, notified by a Member State to carry out preliminary assessment and to issue a certificate of compliance, in accordance with the prescriptions of this Directive. The competent body may be the type-approval authority, provided its competence in this field is properly documented;

- in the framework of the preliminary assessment, Member States must ensure that the materials used for the construction of a vehicle type comply with the provisions of Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2000/53/EC. The Commission will establish the detailed rules necessary to verify compliance with this provision;

- for the purposes of checks of the materials and masses of component parts, the manufacturer must make available vehicles and component parts as deemed necessary by the type-approval authority;

- manufacturers must mark the component parts made of polymers and elastomers in accordance with Commission Decision 2003/138/EC;

- the criteria for the selection of the reference vehicle has been amended to include type of bodywork, available trim levels and the available optional equipment which can be fitted under the manufacturer's responsibility.

T6-0129/2005
OJ C 033 09.02.2006, p. 0495-0545 E

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Holger KRAHMER (ALDE, DE) and agreed a compromise text with the Council. The main points are as follows:

- within 54 months of the entry into force of the directive (instead of 36), Member States will refuse the registration, sale or entry into service of new vehicles which will not comply with rules for re-usability and recyclability;

- the term "competent authority" is replaced by "competent body" throughout the text. It is defined as means an entity, e.g. a technical service or another existing body, notified by a Member State to carry out preliminary assessment and to issue a certificate of compliance, in accordance with the prescriptions of this Directive. The competent body may be the type-approval authority, provided its competence in this field is properly documented;

- in the framework of the preliminary assessment, Member States must ensure that the materials used for the construction of a vehicle type comply with the provisions of Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2000/53/EC. The Commission will establish the detailed rules necessary to verify compliance with this provision;

- for the purposes of checks of the materials and masses of component parts, the manufacturer must make available vehicles and component parts as deemed necessary by the type-approval authority;

- manufacturers must mark the component parts made of polymers and elastomers in accordance with Commission Decision 2003/138/EC;

- the criteria for the selection of the reference vehicle has been amended to include type of bodywork, available trim levels and the available optional equipment which can be fitted under the manufacturer's responsibility.

T6-0129/2005

Debate in Parliament

A6-0004/2005

A6-0004/2005

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.

2610

CES1200/2004
OJ C 074 23.03.2005, p. 0015-0017

COM(2004)0162
EUR-Lex

COM(2004)0162
EUR-Lex