WRITTEN QUESTION E-1352/01 by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission. Tricycles for disabled people.
Date: 2001-05-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: driving licence, facilities for people with disabilities, mutual recognition principle

20.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 364 E/89

(2001/C 364 E/095)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1350/01

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission

(7 May 2001)

Subject: Implementation of Seveso II

What arrangements has each Member State made for the implementation of the land use planning sections
of the Seveso II Directive? Are the controls now fully implemented in each Member State?

Where Member States have implemented land use planning controls, has this been done to a nationally
defined standard or has it been done on a local basis?

If controls have been implemented, have the controls been based on a risk assessment of each site? Has the
method by which the distances are calculated been made public?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(5 July 2001)

The Commission is currently checking the transposition of the Seveso II Directive, Council Directive 96/
82/EC of 9 December 1996 on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances (1) in
the Member States. Currently, infringement procedures against five Member States for non-communication
or incomplete communication of transposition measures are pending before the Court of Justice (Belgium,
Germany, Ireland, Austria, and Portugal).

As in many cases the transposition of the provisions concerning the land-use planning require measures to
level, different sets of laws, regulations and administrative provisions have to be
be taken at regional
checked for each Member State, and therefore, the process of controlling the transposition of the Directive
is not yet finalised. In most Member States, land use planning is carried out at local level, though under
national/regional guidance or oversight. However, should it show that Member States have not fully
transposed the requirements of Article 12 of the Seveso II Directive, infringement procedures against these
Member States will be initiated in due time.

In order to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the Seveso II Directive on land use planning,
and in order to promote a consistent application throughout the Community, a guidance document on
land use planning has been elaborated by the Commission in close co-operation with the Member States. It
was published in 1999 and can be received from the Major Accident Hazard Bureau established within the
Joint Research Centre of the Commission (http://mahbsrv.jrc.it/GuidanceDocs.html).

(1) OJ L 10, 14.1.1997.

(2001/C 364 E/096)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1352/01

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission

(7 May 2001)

Subject: Tricycles for disabled people

Is the Commission aware that tricycles made for disabled people in one Member State cannot always be
used by disabled people in other Member States because of different rules on whether special licences are
needed and whether disabled people are allowed to drive such vehicles at all?

Does the Commission have any plans to address this issue?

C 364 E/90

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.12.2001

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(13 July 2001)

According to Community legislation, from a driving licence (1) and type-approval (2) perspective, there are
two categories of tricycles: tricycles developping a maximum design speed above 45 kilometers per hour
(km/h) and tricycles below such a speed.

It should be noted that so-called (cid:145)light tri-and quadricycles(cid:146) which do not fall within the scope of directive
91/439/EEC on driving licences, remain a matter of national competence. Thus each Member State may
make its own rules regarding their use.

However, if a citizen holds a driving licence for a tricycle with a maximum design speed over 45 km/h and
that tricycle has been adapted in accordance with the provisions of the above mentioned Directive on
driving licences, then mutual recognition is assured between Member States.

Differences between Member States do occur because point 5 of Annex III of the above mentioned
directive, permits that Member States may set standards higher than the minima set out in Annex III for
the issue or any subsequent renewal of driving licences. Moreover, it is evident that the assessment as to
whether a disabled person is allowed to drive and under what circumstances is a decision for the relevant
national medical authorities responsible for the medical examination. This will inevitably lead to slight
differences in the interpretation of the identical relevant legislation, not only between Member States, but
also between competent medical authorities within one Member State, due to inevitable differences in
opinion between doctors.

The Commission wishes to promote mobility and free movement for disabled persons. For this reason
work is currently underway on examining the actions taken in the different Member States in order to
come to a more harmonised approach across the Community.

(1) Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences (OJ L 237, 24.8.1991).
(2) Council Directive 92/61/EEC of 30 June 1992 relating to the type-approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles

(OJ L 225, 10.8.1992).

(2001/C 364 E/097)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1353/01

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Council

(21 May 2001)

Subject: Human rights in Malaysia

the arrest on 10 April of Mr Tian Chang Chua, Mr Hishamudin Rais,
Is the Council aware of
Mr Sarri Sungip and Mr Abdul Malekhusin by the Malaysian police, for the most part under the Internal
Security Act?

Is the Council aware that these (and possibly other) arrests have taken place just ahead of the presentation
of a memorandum by human rights groups to the National Human Rights Commission set up two years
ago by the Malaysian Government?

What is the Council(cid:146)s assessment of these events, and what measures does the Council intend to take?

Reply

(27 September 2001)

The Council is indeed aware of these arrests and has conveyed the Union(cid:146)s concerns regarding the wave of
recent arrests to the Malaysian Foreign Minister.