COMMON POSITION (EC) No 17/97 adopted by the Council on 13 March 1997 with a view to adopting Directive 97/. . ./EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of . . . amending as regards the maximum design speed of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors, Council Directives 74/150/EEC, 74/151/EEC, 74/152/EEC, 74/346/EEC, 74/347/EEC, 75/321/EEC, 75/322/EEC, 76/432/EEC, 76/763/EEC, 77/311/EEC, 77/537/EEC, 78/764/EEC, 78/933/EEC, 79/532/EEC, 79/533/EEC, 80/720/EEC, 86/297/EEC, 86/415/EEC and 89/173/EEC (97/C 157/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty (3),

Whereas the scope of Council Directive 74/150/EEC of 4 March 1974 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors (4), is currently limited to tractors which have a maximum design speed of between 6 and 30 km/h;

Whereas the maximum design speed of a large number of tractors today exceeds 30 km/h; whereas it has therefore become necessary to amend Directive 74/150/EEC and the separate Directives forming part of the European whole vehicle type-approval system of these vehicles, so as to avoid the procedure applying to fewer and fewer vehicles;

Whereas separate Directives 74/151/EEC (5), 74/152/EEC (6), 74/346/EEC (7), 74/347/EEC (8), 75/321/EEC (9), 75/322/EEC (10), 76/432/EEC (11), 76/763/EEC (12), 77/311/EEC (13), 77/537/EEC (14), 78/764/EEC (15), 78/933/EEC (16), 79/532/EEC (17), 79/533/EEC (18), 80/720/EEC (19), 86/297/EEC (20), 86/415/EEC (21) and 89/173/EEC (22), contain a specific definition of their scope in relation to maximum design speed; whereas these Directives also need to be amended pursuant to the procedure laid down in Article 12 of Directive 74/150/EEC, so as to avoid their applying to fewer and fewer vehicles;

Whereas an appropriate increase in the design speed is from 30 to 40 km/h;

Whereas an increase in the maximum design speed used to define the scope of Directive 74/150/EEC and certain individual Directives requires also a change to Council Directive 76/432/EEC of 6 April 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the braking devices of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors (23); whereas this change, which is made in a separate act, must enter into force no later than this Directive;

Whereas it is necessary to improve and harmonize all safety aspects such as the installation of safety belts;

Whereas pollution from tractors should be the subject of future Community legislation,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

The words '30 km/h` shall be replaced by '40 km/h`:

- in Article 1 (2) of Directives 74/150/EEC, 74/151/EEC, 74/152/EEC, 74/346/EEC, 74/347/EEC, 75/321/EEC, 75/322/EEC, 76/432/EEC, 76/763/EEC, 77/311/EEC, 77/537/EEC, 78/933/EEC, 79/532/EEC, 79/533/EEC, 80/720/EEC, 86/297/EEC, 86/415/EEC and 89/173/EEC,

- in Article 9 (2) of Directive 78/764/EEC and

- point 1.5 in the Annex to Directive 74/152/EEC.

Article 2

Member States shall adopt and publish the measures necessary to comply with this Directive before . . . (24*). They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. They shall apply the measures from . . . (25*).

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive, or be accompanied by such a reference when they are officially published. The form of the reference shall be decided by the Member States.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at . . .

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(1) OJ No C 186, 26. 6. 1996, p. 11.

(2) OJ No C 56, 24. 2. 1997, p. 74.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 10 December 1996 (OJ No C 20, 20. 1. 1997, p. 25), Council common position of 13 March 1997 and Decision of the European Parliament of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ No L 84, 28. 3. 1974, p. 10. Directive as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession.

(5) OJ No L 84, 28. 3. 1974, p. 25.

(6) OJ No L 84, 28. 3. 1974, p. 33.

(7) OJ No L 191, 15. 7. 1974, p. 1.

(8) OJ No L 191, 15. 7. 1974, p. 5.

(9) OJ No L 147, 9. 6. 1975, p. 24.

(10) OJ No L 147, 9. 6. 1975, p. 28.

(11) OJ No L 122, 8. 5. 1976, p. 1.

(12) OJ No L 262, 27. 9. 1976, p. 135.

(13) OJ No L 105, 28. 4. 1977, p. 1.

(14) OJ No L 220, 29. 8. 1977, p. 38.

(15) OJ No L 255, 18. 9. 1978, p. 1.

(16) OJ No L 325, 20. 11. 1978, p. 16.

(17) OJ No L 145, 13. 6. 1979, p. 16.

(18) OJ No L 145, 13. 6. 1979, p. 20.

(19) OJ No L 194, 28. 7. 1980, p. 1.

(20) OJ No L 186, 8. 7. 1986, p. 19.

(21) OJ No L 240, 26. 8. 1986, p. 1.

(22) OJ No L 67, 10. 3. 1989, p. 1.

(23) OJ No L 122, 8. 5. 1976, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 96/63/EC (OJ No L 253, 10. 5. 1996, p. 13).

(24*) 12 months after the date of adoption of the Directive.

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

On 11 June 1996 the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal for a Directive relating to the maximum design speed of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors, based on Article 100a of the EC Treaty.

The European Parliament delivered its opinion on 10 December 1996 (1).

On 20 January 1997 the Council received from the Commission an amended proposal for a Directive, incorporating two of the four amendments put forward by the European Parliament.

The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 31 October 1996 (2).

II. COMMON POSITION

On 13 March 1997 the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 189b of the Treaty.

III. OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the Commission proposal is to raise the maximum speed of agricultural tractors from 30 km/h to 40 km/h in order to make allowance for the fact that an increasing number of tractors have maximum design speeds in excess of 30 km/h and are not at present eligible for the Community type-approval system introduced by framework Directive 74/150/EEC.

IV. ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMON POSITION

The common position broadly reflects the amended Commission proposal.

In Article 2, however, the Council preferred to stipulate that Member States are to adopt and publish the measures necessary to comply with the Directive by, and apply them from a date falling 12 months after the publication of the Directive. This will avoid any problems of timing to which the fixed dates proposed by the Commission might have given rise.

With regard to European Parliament amendment 4, which was not included in the Commission's amended proposal, the Council has reflected the spirit of that amendment by requesting the Commission to consider extending the Community type-approval system for agricultural and forestry tractors to trailers and tractors with a maximum design speed of more than 40 km/h and establishing for such vehicles the necessary safety and environmental protection requirements and, if necessary, to submit proposals at the earliest opportunity.

(1) OJ No C 20, 20. 1. 1997, p. 25.

(2) OJ No C 56, 24. 2. 1997, p. 74.