./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/N/EEC/39
6 November 2003
(03-5939)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original: English
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:   European Commission
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:
European Commission,
EC-TBT Enquiry Point,
Fax: 0032 2 299 80 43,E-mail: ec-tbt@cec.eu.int
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [ X ], 5.7.1 [    ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwis e national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   All categories of motor
vehicles and their trailers as defined in  Council Directive 70/156/EEC as amended by
Commission Directive 2001/116/EC.
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   COM (2003) 418
final, “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate
technical units intended for such vehicles (Recast version)” – (242 pages in English,
available in all EC languages).
6. Description of content:   The proposal constitutes the recasting of the current Community
legislation regarding vehicle type-approval (Council Directive 70/156/EEC). Moreover, it
would impose, on a compulsory basis, the Community whole vehicle type-approval system
to all categories of commercial vehicles other than passenger cars (for the latter, the whole
vehicle type-approval system has already been  made compulsory since 1998). New types of
vehicles will be dealt with in a first stage and new vehicles belonging to an existing type
will be dealt with in a second stage.
The Community whole vehicle type-approval system is based on compliance with 56
Directives listed in Annex IV or in Annex XI to the proposal, which will therefore become
compulsory depending on the vehicle category (they are already compulsory for passenger
cars).
There exists no system equivalent to the Community whole vehicle type-approval in the
revised 1958 Agreement of the UN/ECE. However, all the Directives listed in Annex IV or
in Annex XI of the proposal correspond to equivalent UN/ECE Regulations annexed to theG/TBT/N/EEC/39
Page 2
revised 1958 Agreement. These Regulations, recognised as equivalent to the relevant
Directives, are listed in Annex IV part II of the proposal.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
The aim of the proposed measure is to achieve the completion of the internal market within
the Community by approximating the laws of the Member States and by replacing current
national rules regarding type-approval by a Community whole vehicle type-approval
system. The latter is established with a view to improving road safety, protecting theenvironment and preventing the unauthorised use of vehicles.
8. Relevant documents:   COM (2003) 418 final. This proposal is available at the following
address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/automotive .
It will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
9. Proposed date of adoption:
By the European Parliament and
Council:
Proposed date of entry into force:End of 2004
20 days after publication in the OJ of the
European Union
The Directive will progressively apply as
from 1 January 2007 according to a time-
schedule included in Annex XVI of the
proposal.
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from the date of notification
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:
European Commission,
EC-TBT Enquiry Point,
Fax:  0032 2 299 80 43, E-mail: ec-tbt@cec.eu.int