WRITTEN QUESTION E-0597/03

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Subject: Extra lights on HGV

The association of haulage contractors, Norr, in Norrbotten is indignant about the new directive concerning lights on HGV. In Sweden, the National Road Administration has proposed that the directive should be incorporated into legislation as of May 2003.

The traffic situation in Norrland differs from that in Central Europe. Timber hauliers can drive for an hour and a half without meeting any oncoming traffic. Driving on bad roads in the dark with a high risk of encountering elk means that several extra lights are needed in the north of Sweden compared with more densely populated areas in the EU. Powerful lights are a safety factor. Crashing into wild animals costs money and causes problems. It is not a problem for HGV drivers to dip their lights for oncoming traffic.

Is there a possibility of regional exemptions from the directive as regards lights on HGV?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(28 March 2003)

To comply with Council Directive 76/756/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the installation of lighting and light-signalling devices on motor vehicles and their trailers(1), as last amended by Commission Directive 97/28/EC of 11 June 1997(2), motor vehicles must be fitted with either two or four main-beam headlamps, the aggregate intensity of which shall not exceed 225,000 cd. These provisions have remained unchanged since the 1976 and are aligned with Regulation 48 of the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). Proposals are currently under consideration within the UN/ECE, though, to permit an additional two main-beam headlamps to be fitted to heavy goods vehicles greater than 12 tonnes in mass, provided that only four can be illuminated at any one time.

Heavy goods vehicles are type-approved on the basis of national legislation and do not yet fall under the Community Whole Vehicle Type-Approval system, although it is anticipated that proposals to include them in this system on a mandatory basis as from 2008 will be brought forward to the European Parliament and Council soon.

For the purposes of granting national type approvals, the Swedish authorities must accept vehicles that conform to Council Directive 76/756/EEC. However, compliance with the Directive is not mandatory, and the authorities may therefore also accept vehicles that comply with alternative provisions. Where alternative provisions are available it is up to the manufacturer to choose whether he would prefer to have the type-approval of his vehicle based upon the alternative provisions or the Directive. As far as practicable, the Commission would encourage all Member States to align their national provisions with the relevant EC Directives at the earliest possible date prior to the Community Whole Vehicle Type-Approval system becoming mandatory for heavy good vehicles.

In addition, once any vehicle is registered, it is subject to the national provisions concerning the use of vehicles, and it is a matter for the Swedish authorities to determine whether or not they wish to permit the subsequent installation of additional main-beam headlamps.

(1) OJ L 262, 27.9.1976.

(2) OJ L 171, 30.6.1997.