. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/172 
20 December 2007 
 (07-5695) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
  
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated 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:  +(32) 2 299 8043 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu 
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ 
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, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Hydrogen powered 
vehicles of categories M and N as defined in Directive 2007/46/EC; hydrogen components and hydrogen systems designed for these vehicles.        
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Proposal for a 
regulation of the European Parliament a nd of the Council on t ype-approval of hydrogen 
powered motor vehicles and amending Direc tive 2007/46/EC (29 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   The proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of 
the Council aims at including hydrogen power ed vehicles in the European Community 
Whole Vehicle Type-Approval (WVTA) system. The regulation establishes the 
requirements for the type approval of vehicles with regard to hydrogen propulsion, and for 
the type-approval of hydrogen components a nd hydrogen systems. It also establishes 
requirements for the installation of such components and systems. G/TBT/N/EEC/172 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Air quality and noise levels in the cities of the European Union are of major concern. 
Despite the efforts taken, the contribution of road transport to these environmental problems 
is still considerable. Therefore, efforts shoul d be made to facilitate the introduction and 
placing on the market of environmentally friendly vehicles. 
The use of hydrogen as fuel for road vehicles offers an environmentally friendly solution for 
mobility. However, at present hydrogen powered vehicles are not included in the European 
Community vehicle type-approval framework. This  situation results in the fragmentation of 
the internal market of these vehicles. 
At the same time, since there are perceived safety issues with using hydrogen for vehicle 
propulsion, it should be ensured that hydrogen systems are as safe as conventional 
propulsion technologies. 
8. Relevant documents:   Text of the legislative Proposal and its Impact Assessment 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    In 2008 
On the 20th day following its publication in 
the Official Journal of the EU 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from 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:  + (32) 2299 8043 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu 
The text is available on the EC-TBT Webs ite: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/