WRITTEN QUESTION P-2011/97 by Pat Gallagher (UPE) to the Commission (4 June 1997)

Subject: Regulations on import of second-hand vehicles into the EU

What type approval requirements are applicable to used vehicles being imported either privately or on a commercial basis to a Member State from outside the EU for use within the EU?

Whose responsibility is it to enforce such type approval regulations as are applicable to the importation of such used vehicles from outside the EU?

What evidence should a Member State seek in respect of such imported used vehicles from outside the EU before allowing them to be used on roads within the EU, to ensure that such vehicles are in conformity with EU type approval regulations?

What audit procedures does the Commission carry out to ensure that conformity with the applicable type approval regulations are being enforced by a Member State in respect of used vehicles imported from outside the EU?

What sanctions can the Commission implement if a member State fails to properly ensure conformity with type approval regulations on used vehicles imported from outside the EU and registered for use within the Member State and consequently within all other Member States?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (25 June 1997)

Directive 70/156/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers as last amended by Directive 96/27/EC ((OJ L 42, 23.2.1970. OJ L 169, 8.7.1996. )) does not apply to used vehicles. Neither do Directive 74/150/EEC on the type-approval of tractors ((OJ L 84, 28.3.1974. )) nor Directive 92/61/EEC on type-approval of two- or three-wheeled motor vehicles ((OJ L 225, 10.8.1992. )).

Used vehicles which are imported, be it privately or on a commercial basis, therefore do not have to be type-approved. Such vehicles are usually single-approved (if the Member State has a single-approval scheme at all) to be allowed entry into service in a Member State. The procedure and the requirements to obtain single-approval for a vehicle are not harmonized in the Community. Therefore Member States may regulate the procedure and the material requirements for the granting of single-approval. The only requirements set in advance by the Community to be fulfilled also by such vehicles are the limit values concerning noise and pollutant emissions.

Member States may, for the purpose of single-approval, request compliance with other Community directives regulating vehicle parts and components, although these directives do not apply to single-approval under Community law. But Member States may also have requirements different from those laid down in these directives. It is up to the Member State to decide, whether a single vehicle fulfills the characteristics deemed to be absolutely necessary to allow a vehicle to enter into service in this Member State.

Single approvals granted by a Member State are only valid in this Member State. If the vehicle is brought to another Member State it has to undergo another single-approval there to be registered. The first Member State may have granted exemptions from Community directives. If the second Member State is not prepared to also grant such exemptions and therefore refuses to deliver single-approval, the rules of Articles 30 and 36 of the EC Treaty apply. This means that the second Member State has to give reasons according to Article 36 EC treaty or the mandatory requirements developed by the case law of the Court of justice why the single vehicle is not accepted for entry into service in its territory.