WRITTEN QUESTION No. 21/98 by Karl von WOGAU to the Commission. Obstacle to the free movement of car alarm installations
Date: 1998-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, VON WOGAU
Subjects: European standard, electronic equipment, harmonisation of standards, motor vehicle insurance, technical standard, theft, vehicle parts, vehicle registration

C 223/86

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17. 7. 98

proposal has been adopted and has taken effect, a system of notification and control shall apply to exports of
green-list wastes to those countries not wishing to respond, but those exports will not be banned. From the point
in time when the authority in a non-OECD country gives its agreement on a specific import, this may take place.
That declaration must also be met with regard to those countries that have specifically declared that they did not
wish to receive any, or only wished to receive certain types of green-list wastes, even if their transfer is purely
charitable.

(1)  OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.
(2)  OJ L 78, 26.3.1991.
(3)  OJ L 30, 6.2.1993.
(4)  OJ L 220, 25.8.1994.

(98/C 223/107)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0021/98

by Karl von Wogau (PPE) to the Commission

(29 January 1998)

Subject: Obstacle to the free movement of car alarm installations

Following  a  directive  of  June  1992  (92/49/EEC) (1),  insurance  companies  are  free  to  set  the  conditions  for
insuring a car against theft. In practice this means that car alarm devices originally installed in the vehicles by the
manufacturers have to be replaced when a car leaves the country in which it was manufactured, as the national
insurance companies have difference requirements in every Member State. This situation becomes strange when
even high-quality car alarms have to be replaced with systems that conform to the specifications of the national
association of insurance companies and that are guaranteed for service only within the borders of one Member
State. The result is higher costs and risks for consumers.

Concerning the registration and bringing into service of cars, a Directive which is compulsory for all new cars
after 1 May 1996 lays down harmonized technical prescriptions for car alarms allowing the registrations in all
Member States.

Does the European Commission agree that European technical standards would be useful to make these

1.
rules more operational?

2. Would the Commission be prepared to give the competent European standardization body a mandate to
elaborate a technical standard for car alarms?

(1)  OJ L 228, 11.8.1992, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission

(9 March 1998)

The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that harmonised European technical regulations
already  exist.  Indeed,  Council  Directive  74/61/EEC,  as  last  amended  by  Commission  Directive  95/56/EC  of
8 November 1995 adapting to technical progress Council Directive 74/61/EEC relating to devices to prevent the
unauthorised  use  of  motor  vehicles (1),  provides  for  harmonised  technical  requirements  concerning  vehicles
fitted with alarm systems and the alarm systems intended for such vehicles. Therefore, since 1 January 1997,
Member  States  may  not  refuse  to  grant  Community  type  approval  to  vehicles  thus  equipped,  or  those  alarm
systems. The insurance companies are also required to comply.

As regards this area of motor vehicle design it is the traditional regulatory approach that the Commission follows
under Article 100a of the EC Treaty. The Commission drew up the above-mentioned directive by harmonising
the details of the national regulations. That directive was then transposed in the national laws of the Member
States. It must be made clear that the requirements of the directive draw as far as possible upon European and
international standards.

(1)  OJ L 286, 29.11.1995.