91997E3885

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3885/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) and Spalato Belleré (NI) to the Commission (5 December 1997)

Subject: Motor vehicles intended for the transport of dangerous goods

The Commission has submitted a proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive relating to motor vehicles and their trailers with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road and amending Directive 70/156/EEC in respect of the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (COM(96) 555 final - 96/0267 COD) ((OJ C 29, 30.1.1997, p. 17. )).

Directive 94/55/EC ((OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 7. )) transposed into Community law the provisions of the ADR agreement, including the rules on the manufacture of vehicles transporting dangerous goods by road. However, this directive does not stipulate that the construction characteristics of vehicles intended for the transport of dangerous goods should be accepted by the Member States. For this purpose, a specific directive needs to be adopted within the framework of European type-approval to guarantee free movement of vehicles within the Union on the basis of harmonized construction characteristics.

Will the Commission, and in particular DG VII, ensure that the benefits provided by the directive under consideration, Directive 94/55/EEC and Directive 96/86/EC ((OJ L 335, 24.12.1996, p. 43. )) amending the latter, are not nullified by differing provisions on vehicle manufacture introduced by the competent authorities or other organizations?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (29 January 1998)

The Commission agrees that the requirements of Directive 94/55/EC as amended by Directive 96/86/EC of 13 December 1996 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road, are sufficient to guarantee the free circulation of vehicles within the Community when transporting dangerous goods but not the registration of such vehicles in a Member State.

In fact the above mentioned Directive does not contain harmonised technical prescriptions concerning the construction of such vehicles allowing them to be type-approved and registered in another Member State.

In order to ensure the free circulation and the registration of the base vehicle in the Community the Commission has presented to the Parliament and to the Council a proposal for a Directive relating to the type approval of motor vehicles and their trailers to be used for the transport of dangerous goods.

Once this proposal is adopted, all vehicles fulfilling the requirements of the directive will be granted a Community type approval that will give them the right to be registered in each Member State.