. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/N/EEC/30
1 August 2003
(03-4085)
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 [    ], 5.7.1 [    ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  All categories of motor
vehicles (with the exception of passenger cars) covered by Directive 70/156/EEC as
amended;  restraint systems, seats and head restraints.
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:
(a) COM (2003) 363 final, “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council amending Council Directive 77/541/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to safety belts and restraint systems of motor vehicles” (18 pages,
all EC languages);
(b) COM (2003) 361 final, “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council amending Council Directive 74/408/EEC re lating to motor vehicles with regards to
the seats, their anchorages and head restraints” (12 pages, all EC languages);
(c) COM (2003) 362 final, “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council amending Council Directive 76/115/EEC on the approximation of the laws of theMember States relating to anchorages for motor-vehicle safety belts” (11 pages, all EC
languages)
6. Description of content:   The proposal related to seat belt installation (COM(2003) 363
final) would impose the compulsory fitting of safety belts in all vehicles.  (The installation
of safety belts in passenger cars has been compulsory since 1998).  New types of vehicles
are concerned in a first stage and new vehicles belonging to an existing type will be
concerned in a second stage.
Since safety belts are generally fitted directly to the seat in the case of commercial vehicles,
the aim of the two other proposals (one related to the resistance of the safety beltsG/TBT/N/EEC/30
Page 2
anchorages, the other one to the resistance of the seats) is to amend Directives 74/408/EEC
and 76/115/EEC in order to ensure the technical consistency of the whole system.
The proposal related to seats (COM (2003) 361 final) would also impose a Community
type-approval to all seats and prohibit the installation of side-facing seats.
There already exist UN/ECE Regulations covering the type-approval of restraint systems,
seats and anchorages which do not require compulsory installation of safety belts and
type-approval of seats in all vehicles.  The European Communities considers that the
compulsory installation of safety belts in all vehicles is essential to achieve the legitimate
objectives pursued, i.e. of reducing the number of road accident victims.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
The aim of the proposed measures is to improve the protection of vehicle occupants in case
of accident. These proposals are part of the European Road Safety Action Programme
aiming at halving the number of road accident victims in the European Union by 2010;  they
seek to reduce the number of road accident victims by imposing the installation of safety
belts in all motor vehicles.
8. Relevant documents:   COM (2003) 363 final, COM (2003) 362 final, COM (2003) 361
final.  These proposals are available in English at the following address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/automotive .
They 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:
The Directive will apply as from
1 July 2004 for new types of vehiclesand 1 January 2006 for all new
vehicles.Beginning of 2004
20 days after publication in the OJ of the
European Union
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from the date of notification
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [     ] 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