Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the space for mounting the rear registration plate of two or three-wheel motor vehicles (Codified version)
Date: 2006-09-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: approval, codification of EU law, harmonisation of standards, motor vehicle, technical regulations, two-wheeled vehicle, vehicle registration

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 5.9.2006 
COM(2006) 478 final 

2006/0161 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

relating to the space for mounting the rear registration plate of two or three-wheel 
motor vehicles 

(Codified version) 

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

In  the  context  of  a  people’s  Europe,  the  Commission  attaches  great  importance  to 
simplifying  and  clarifying  Community  law  so  as  to  make  it  clearer  and  more 
accessible to the ordinary citizen, thus giving him new opportunities and the chance 
to make use of the specific rights it gives him. 

This aim cannot be achieved so long as numerous provisions that have been amended 
several times, often quite substantially, remain scattered, so that they must be sought 
partly  in  the  original  instrument  and  partly  in  later  amending  ones.  Considerable 
research work, comparing many different instruments, is thus needed to identify the 
current rules. 

For  this  reason  a  codification  of  rules  that  have  frequently  been  amended  is  also 
essential if Community law is to be clear and transparent. 

On  1  April  1987  the  Commission  therefore  decided1  to  instruct  its  staff  that  all 
legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that 
this  is  a  minimum  requirement  and  that  departments  should  endeavour  to  codify  at 
even  shorter  intervals  the  texts  for  which  they  are  responsible,  to  ensure  that  the 
Community rules are clear and readily understandable. 

The  Conclusions  of 
the  Edinburgh  European  Council 
(December 1992) confirmed this2, stressing the importance of codification as it offers 
certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time. 

the  Presidency  of 

Codification  must  be  undertaken  in  full  compliance  with  the  normal  Community 
legislative procedure. 

Given  that  no  changes  of  substance  may  be  made  to  the  instruments  affected  by 
codification, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed, 
by  an  interinstitutional  agreement  dated  20  December  1994,  that  an  accelerated 
procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments. 

is 

this  proposal 

to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council 
The  purpose  of 
Directive 93/94/EEC of 29 October 1993 relating to the space for mounting the rear 
registration plate of two or three-wheel vehicles3. The new Directive will supersede 
the  various  acts  incorporated  in  it4;  this  proposal  fully  preserves  the  content  of  the 
acts being codified and hence does no more than bring them together with only such 
formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself. 

COM(87) 868 PV. 
See Annex 3 to Part A of the Conclusions. 
Carried out pursuant to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the 
Council – Codification of the Acquis communautaire, COM(2001) 645 final. 
See Annex II, Part A of this proposal. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

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5. 

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, 
in  all  official  languages,  of  Directive  93/94/EEC  and  the  instrument  amending  it, 
carried out by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, by 
means  of  a  data-processing  system.  Where  the  Articles  have  been  given  new 
numbers,  the  correlation  between  the  old  and  the  new  numbers  is  shown  in  a  table 
contained in Annex III to the codified Directive. 

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2006/0161 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

relating to the space for mounting the rear registration plate of two or three-wheel 
motor vehicles 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article 95 thereof, 

Having regard to Directive 2002/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 
March 2002 relating to the type-approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles and repealing 
Council Directive 92/61/EEC5,   

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee6, 

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty7, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

Council  Directive 93/94/EEC of  29 October 1993 relating to the space for mounting 
the  rear  registration  plate  of  two  or  three-wheel  vehicles8  laid  down  technical 
prescriptions  concerning  the  design  and  construction  of  two  or  three-wheel  motor 
vehicles as regards the space for mounting the rear registration plate. These technical 
prescriptions concerned the approximation of the laws of the Member States to allow 
for  the  EC  type-approval  procedure  provided  for  in  Directive  2002/24/EC  to  be 
applied in respect of each type of vehicle. Directive 93/94/EEC has been substantially 
amended9.  In  the  interests  of  clarity  and  rationality  the  said  Directive  should  be 
codified. 

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OJ L 124, 9.5.2002, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2005/30/EC (OJ L 106, 
27.4.2005, p. 17). 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ L 311, 14.12.1993, p. 83. Directive as amended by Commission Directive 1999/26/EC (OJ L 118, 
6.5.1999, p. 32). 
See Annex II, Part A. 

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(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

This  Directive  is  one  of  the  separate  Directives  of  the  EC  type-approval  system 
provided  for  in  Directive  2002/24/EC.  Consequently,  the  provisions  laid  down  in 
Directive 2002/24/EC relating to vehicle systems, components and separate technical 
units apply to this Directive. 

The  objective  of  this  Directive  is  not  to  harmonise  the  dimensions  of  registration 
plates used in the various Member States. The Member States should therefore ensure 
that  protruding  registration  plates  do  not  constitute  a  danger  for  users,  without, 
however, this requiring any modification with regard to vehicle construction. 

This  Directive  should  be  without  prejudice  to  the  obligations  of  the  Member  States 
relating  to  the  time-limits  for  transposition  into  national  law  and  application  of  the 
Directives set out in Annex II, Part B, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

This Directive shall apply to the space for mounting the rear registration plate of all types of 
motor vehicle as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2002/24/EC.  

Article 1 

Article 2 

The  procedure  for  the  granting  of  EC  component  type-approval  in  respect  of  the  space  for 
mounting  the  rear  registration  plate  for  a  type of  two  or  three-wheel  motor  vehicle  and  the 
conditions governing the free movement of such vehicles shall be as laid down in Chapters II 
and III of Directive 2002/24/EC. 

Article 3 

The amendments  necessary  to  adapt  the  requirements  of  Annex  I  to  this  Directive  to  take 
account of  technical progress shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to  
in Article 13 (3) of Directive [70/156/EEC].  

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the provisions of national 
law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.  

Article 4 

Article 5 

Directive  93/94/EEC,  as  amended  by  the  Directive  listed  in  Annex  II,  Part  A,  is  repealed, 
without  prejudice  to  the  obligations  of  the  Member  States  relating  to  the  time-limits  for 
transposition into national law and application of the Directives set out in Annex II, Part B. 

References  to  the  repealed  Directive  shall  be  construed  as  references  to  this  Directive  and 
shall be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex III. 

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This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union.  

Article 6 

It shall apply from […]. 

Article 7 

This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels, […] 

For the European Parliament 
The President 
[…] 

For the Council 
The President 
[…] 

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ANNEX I 

1. 

DIMENSIONS 

The  dimensions  of  the  space  for  mounting  the  rear  registration  plate  of  two  or 
three-wheel motor vehicles10 are as follows: 

1.1.  Mopeds and light quadricycles without a body 

1.1.1.  Width: 100 mm; 

1.1.2.  Height: 175 mm; 

or 

1.1.3.  Width: 145 mm; 

1.1.4.  Height: 125 mm. 

1.2.  Motorcycles,  tricycles  up  to  a  maximum  power  of  15  kW  and  quadricycles, 

other than light quadricycles, without a body 

1.2.1.  Width: 280 mm; 

1.2.2.  Height: 210 mm. 

1.3. 

Tricycles  with  a  maximum  power  exceeding  15  kW,  light  quadricycles  fitted 
with a body and quadricycles other than light quadricycles fitted with a body 

1.3.1.  The provisions for passenger cars as set out in Council Directive 70/222/EEC 11 shall 

apply. 

2. 

GENERAL LOCATION 

2.1. 

The mounting for the rear registration plate of a motorcycle, motorcycle combination 
or tricycle must be located at the rear of the vehicle in such a manner that: 

2.1.1. 

the plate can be positioned within the longitudinal planes passing through the outer 
extremities of the vehicle. 

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In the case of mopeds, this is any registration and/or identification plate. 
OJ L 76, 6.4.1970, p. 25. 

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3. 

INCLINATION 

3.1. 

The rear registration plate: 

3.1.1.  must be at right angles to the median longitudinal plane of the vehicle; 

3.1.2.  may  be  inclined  from  the  vertical  by  not  more  than  30°,  with  the  vehicle  unladen, 

when the backing plate for the registration number faces upwards; 

3.1.3.  may  be  inclined  by  not  more  than  15°  from  the  vertical,  with  the  vehicle  unladen, 

when the backing plate for the registration number faces downwards; 

4. 

MAXIMUM HEIGHT 

4.1. 

No  point  on  the  space  for  mounting  the  registration  plate  may  be  more  than  1,5  m 
above the ground when the vehicle is unladen. 

5. 

MINIMUM HEIGHT 

5.1. 

No point  on the space for mounting the registration plate shall be  less  than  0,20  m 
above the ground or less than the radius of the wheel above the ground if that is less 
than 0,20 m, when the vehicle is unladen. 

6. 

GEOMETRIC VISIBILITY 

6.1. 

The  space  for  mounting  the  plate  must  be  visible  within  a  space  bordered  by  two 
dihedrals:  one  with  a  horizontal  edge  defined  by  two  planes  passing  through  the 
upper and lower horizontal edges of the space for mounting the plate, the angles of 
which in relation to the horizontal are shown in Figure 1; the other with a perceptibly 
vertical edge defined by two planes passing through each side of the plate, the angles 
of  which  in  relation  to  the  median  longitudinal  plane  of  the  vehicle  are  shown  in 
Figure 2. 

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Figure 1 

Angle of geometric visibility (dihedral with horizontal edge) 

Figure 2 

Angle of geometric visibility (dihedral with perceptibly vertical edge) 

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Appendix 1 

Information document in respect of the space for mounting the rear registration plate of 
a type of two or three-wheel motor vehicle 

(to be attached to the application for EC component type-approval where this is submitted 
separately from the application for EC vehicle type-approval) 

Order No (assigned by the applicant): 

The application for EC component type-approval in respect of the space for mounting the rear 
registration plate of a type of two or three-wheel motor vehicle must contain the information 
set out in Annex II to Directive 2002/24/EC, Part A, sections:  

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

0.1, 

0.2, 

0.4 to 0.6, 

2.2, 

2.2.1, 

9.6, 

9.6.1. 

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Appendix 2 

1. Trade mark or name of vehicle 

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ANNEX II 

Part A 

Repealed Directive with its amendment 
(referred to in Article 5) 

Council Directive 93/94/EEC 

(OJ L 311, 14.12.1993, p. 83) 

Commission Directive 1999/26/EC 

(OJ L 118, 6.5.1999, p. 32) 

Part B 

List of time-limits for transposition into national law and application 
(referred to in Article 5) 

Directive 

Time-limit for transposition 

Date of application 

93/94/EEC 

1999/26/EC 

30 April 1995 

1 November 1995(1) 

31 December 1999 

1 January 2000(2) 

(1) 

In conformity with Article 4 of Directive 93/94/EEC: 

“From  [1  May  1995],  Member  States  may  not,  for  reasons  connected  with  the  space  for 
mounting  the  rear  registration  plate,  prohibit  the  initial  entry  into  service  of  vehicles  which 
conform to this Directive.” 

(2) 

In conformity with Article 2 of Directive 1999/26/EC: 

“1.  With  effect  from  1  January  2000,  Member  States  shall  not,  on  grounds  relating  to  the 
space for mounting the rear registration plate: 

– 

– 

refuse, in respect of a type of two or three-wheel vehicle, to grant EC type-approval, 

prohibit  the  registration,  sale  or  entry  into  service  of  two  or  three-wheel  motor 
vehicles, 

if  the  space  for  mounting  the  rear  registration  plate  complies  with  the  requirements  of 
Directive 93/94/EEC as amended by this Directive. 

2. With effect from 1 July 2000, Member States shall refuse to grant EC type-approval for any 
type of two or three-wheel motor vehicle on grounds relating to the space for mounting the 
rear  registration  plate  if  the  requirements  of  Directive  93/94/EEC,  as  amended  by  this 
Directive, are not fulfilled.” 

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ANNEX III 

CORRELATION TABLE 

Directive 93/94/EEC 

This Directive 

Articles 1, 2 and 3 

Articles 1, 2 and 3 

Article 4(1) 

Article 4(2) 

__ 

__ 

Article 5 

Annex  

__ 

__ 

__ 

Article 4  

Article 5 

Article 6 

Article 7 

Annex I 

Annex II 

Annex III 

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