Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Directive on registration documents for motor vehicles and their trailers'
Date: 1997-10-29
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: commercial vehicle, harmonisation of standards, motor vehicle, police checks, vehicle registration

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1997 proposal

Impact on 1993 CAD

Purpose

Annex 1.3(a), (b) & (c)

Amend Annex III.1, III.3, and
III.4 respectively

Annex I.3(d)

Replaces Annex III 7.

Bring gold within the scope of the capital regime for
foreign exchange; point 3(a) also converts the 2 % de
minimis ‘free zone’ into a threshold which should produce
higher capital requirements

Where national authorities establish a model for calculat-
ing capital requirements for foreign exchange it must
now apply the same standards as those being applied to
internal models

Annex I.4 (a), (b) & (c)

Amend Annex V.2, V.4, V.6 & Allows Tier 3 capital to be used to meet the capital
requirements on commodities risk and trading book risks
V.7
calculated by internal models.

Annex 1.5(a) & (b)

Amend Annex VI.2 (I) and VI.8
(2)

Extend the scope of the rules on large exposures to cover
risks covered by internal models.

Annex II

Inserts new annexes VII & VIII

Annex VII apply Basle’s norms on commodities, whereas
Annex VIII acts upon Basle’s norms in the area of internal
models.

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Directive on
registration documents for motor vehicles and their trailers’ (1)

(98/C 19/05)

On 5 August 1997 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 75 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned
proposal.

The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 8 October 1997. The rapporteur
was Mr Kubenz.

At its 349th plenary session on 29-30 October 1997 (meeting of 29 October 1997), the Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 99 votes to one, with three abstentions.

1. Preamble

1.1.
In 1996, a total of 164 553 000 private vehicles
and 22 032 000 commercial vehicles were registered in
the European Community, giving a total of:

— 186 585 000 vehicles (2) and 20 000 000 trailers (3).

1.2.
In Germany some 20 % of all motor vehicles and
trailers on the road are re-registered every year. Tens of
millions of re-registrations are carried out each year in
the European Union.

1.3.
Since 1 January 1993, the European Union has
become an internal market without internal borders in
which there is free movement of goods, people, services
and capital. Since that date, the Member States have
applied Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February
1970 (4) on the approximation of the laws of the Member

(1) OJ C 202, 2. 7. 1997, p. 13.
(2) Official data from DG III of the European Commission,

broken down according to countries.
(3) Economic and Social Committee estimate.

(4) OJ L 42, 23. 2. 1970, p. 1 (Opinion of the Economic and

Social Committee: OJ C 48, 16. 4. 1969, p. 14).

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States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and
their trailers [last amended by Directive 97/27/EC (1)].
Under this directive, existing type approval procedures
in the Member States are to be progressively replaced
by a Community type approval procedure. The directive
allows new vehicles for which EC type approval has
been granted to be registered, sold and put into service
in any other Member State on presentation of a valid
certificate of conformity (COC), regardless of any tax
considerations.

Since 1 January 1993 it has been possible to apply
1.4.
the EC type approval system to class M1 vehicles,
i.e. ‘vehicles used for the carriage of passengers and
comprising no more than eight seats in addition to the
driver’s seat’ (2); this system has been mandatory for
new M1 vehicles since 1 January 1996.

1.5.
A registration certificate is issued for new and
re-registered vehicles when they have been registered on
the basis of type approval and after allocation of the
national registration plate.

1.6.
The registration certificate enables the owner of
the vehicle or the vendor to sell the vehicle on the
internal market or re-register it in another country
should their place of residence change (3).

2.

Introduction

2.1.
The purpose of this proposal for a directive is to
harmonize the presentation and content of registration
certificates in the European Union.

2.2.
The draft proposal sets out provisions on the
basis of Article 75 of the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community (common transport
policy).

The directive aims to achieve the following

2.3.
objectives through harmonization:

— to make it easier for vehicles registered in one
Member State to circulate in the territory of another
Member State and facilitate inspection of the regis-
tration certificate by the competent national auth-
orities;

— to keep a check on the application of Directive

91/439/EEC on driving licences (4);

(1) OJ L 18, 21. 1. 1997, p. 7 (Opinion of the Economic and

Social Committee: OJ C 49, 24. 2. 1992, p. 5).

(2) See Annex II of Directive 70/156/EEC.
(3) Cf. Commission interpretative communication on pro-
cedures for the type-approval and registration of vehicles
previously registered in another Member State, OJ C 143,
15. 5. 1996, p. 4.

(4) OJ L 237, 24. 8. 1991, p. 1 (Opinion of the Economic and

Social Committee: OJ C 301, 13. 11. 1995).

— to improve the efficiency of the internal market by
making it easier to understand registration docu-
ments when a vehicle has been registered in another
Member State;

— to improve the efficiency of the internal market by
making it easier to identify a vehicle’s owner or
keeper when the vehicle has been registered in
another Member State.

3. General comment

The Committee welcomes the Commission pro-

3.1.
posal on harmonizing registration certificates.

4. Specific comments

The Committee particularly welcomes the fact
4.1.
that the registration certificate is to be designed with
reference to the Vienna Convention (5).

4.2. However, the Committee points out that it is
essential to at least incorporate the scope of the ECE (6)
convention into European Union rules, since the ECE
rules are currently accepted outside the EU, notably in
the eastern European countries.

4.3.
The Committee advocates the setting up of
an electronic system throughout the European Union
through which vehicle registration data could be accessed
via the chassis number.

4.3.1.
In certain Member States (Denmark, the United
Kingdom and Sweden) drivers of vehicles are not
required to carry the registration certificate with them
when travelling in the country where the vehicle is
registered. In these Member States the authorities have
a system that gives them direct access during roadside
checks to the national registration database, which
contains all the information set out in the registration
certificate.

4.3.2.
The Commission is currently looking at the
TADIA project on the Europe-wide exchange of the
data from certificates of conformity issued under the
EC type approval system. TADIA could form the basis
for electronic vehicle checks.

4.3.3.
Plastic cards with a computer chip have been
recommended as an interim solution until electronic
checks can be carried out on vehicles directly. These
cards could be introduced immediately without first
providing the data in paper form.

(5) Convention on road traffic, signed on 8. 11. 1968, including
amendments taking effect on 3. 9. 1993. United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).

(6) ECE: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

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4.3.4.
If the data are provided on paper, they should
at least be electronically readable (e.g. by using a bar
code).

The Committee agrees that a two-part regis-

4.4.
tration certificate is absolutely necessary.

As a rule the second part of the registration
4.4.1.
document is not, and should not, be kept in the vehicle.
This helps to prevent the sale of stolen vehicles, which
cannot be purchased in good faith unless the second
part of the registration document is presented. This
system has proved useful in Germany and the Nether-
lands, and is also to be introduced in Belgium.

4.4.2.
The issuing of a two-part registration document
can also provide proof of ownership, as already provided
by the ownership papers issued in some Member States.

4.5. Articles 6 and 7

4.5.1.
The Committee agrees that the committee
provided for in Directive 96/47/EC (1) amending Direc-
tive 91/439/EEC on driving licences should adapt the
annexes to technical progress in accordance with the
procedure described in Article 7 of the proposal.

4.6. Article 8

4.6.1.
seem to be adequate and appropriate.

The deadlines for transposing the directive

4.7. Annex I

4.7.1. With regard to standardizing the format of
registration documents to a large extent, no maximum
dimensions should be set, but a precise format should
be laid down as in the directive on driving licences in
the European Union. This will prevent differing national
formats from undermining the standardization being
sought and avoid problems with the desired electronic
readability.

(1) OJ L 235, 17. 9. 1996, p. 1.

Brussels, 29 October 1997.

4.7.2.
Data that is used solely for official vehicle
checks could also be encoded in order to save space.
This would also be quite feasible with a standardized
format that was electronically readable.

4.7.3.
As regards measures to increase anti-tampering
protection, it is recommended that use of holograms be
added in Annex I, part I, point II and Annex I, part II,
point II of the directive.

4.7.4.
It is proposed with respect to paper quality
requirements that the standard should be at least as high
as the European driving licence, in order to prolong the
registration certificates and increase anti-
life of
tampering protection.

4.8. Annex I, part I, point VII and Annex I, part II,

point VII

4.8.1.
follows:

The wording should be changed to read as

‘The information may also be given on the regis-
tration certificate in the form of codes, if this is
contained in the certificate of conformity (COC)
issued by the manufacturer on the basis of the EC
type approval or can be derived from it by simple
calculation.’

4.9. Trailers

4.9.1.
If a person owns several trailers, the registration
office should draw up a list of the trailers registered in
that person’s name, which the owner should be able to
carry around and present for inspection instead of a
registration certificate.

The directive does not affect existing special
4.10.
national procedures, which remain unchanged. How-
ever, it would be advisable to allow use of the standard
registration documents for vehicles that have not been
granted EC type approval.

4.10.1.
As things stand at the moment, this applies to
all vehicle categories for which EC type approval is not
yet possible, and to vehicles that can still be registered
individually by national type approval procedures fol-
lowing the entry-into-force of EC type approval pro-
cedures for M1 vehicles and all other categories of
vehicle.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS