Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Approximation of laws - Motor vehicles - Procedure for Community type-approval - Directive 70/156 - Right of the Member States to refuse to register vehicles with a valid Community type-approval certificate - Conditions - National rules subjecting the registration of motor vehicles to the production of a national certificate declaring that they comply with national exhaust emission rules - Not permissible

(Council Directive 70/156, Art. 7(1) and (3))

2 Community law - Interpretation - Acts of the institutions - Declaration recorded in minutes - Whether to be taken into consideration - Not permissible where no reference is made to the declaration in the act itself

Summary

3 Directive 70/156 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, as amended by Directive 92/53, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which motor vehicles covered by a valid Community type-approval certificate cannot be registered unless a national certificate is produced attesting to their conformity with national requirements concerning exhaust emissions.

It is clear from Article 7(1) and (3) of the directive that a Member State may refuse to register a vehicle with a valid Community type-approval certificate only if it finds that the vehicle is a serious risk to road safety. Refusal to register under the national rules on the basis of considerations of environmental protection does not satisfy the conditions governing the derogation provided for by that provision.

4 A declaration recorded in minutes is of limited value, since it cannot be used for the purposes of interpreting a provision of Community law where no reference is made to the content of the declaration in the wording of the provision in question and the declaration therefore has no legal significance.