Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the coupling device and the reverse of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors (Codified version)
Date: 2007-06-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Community certification, approximation of laws, codification of EU law, commercial vehicle, technical standard

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 13.6.2007 
COM(2007) 319 final 

2007/0117 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the coupling device and the reverse of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors 

(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 79/533/EEC  of  17  May  1979  on  the  approximation  of  the  laws  of  the 
Member  States  relating  to  the  coupling  device  and  the  reverse  of  wheeled 
agricultural  or  forestry  tractors3.  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 III, Part A of this proposal. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

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 79/533/EEC and the instruments 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 IV to the codified Directive. 

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(cid:208) 79/533/EEC (adapted) 

2007/0117 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the coupling device and the reverse of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors 

(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 the proposal from the Commission, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee1, 

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty2, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

1 
2 
3 

4 
5 

(cid:208)  

Council Directive 79/533/EEC of  17 May 1979  on  the  approximation of the laws of 
the  Member  States  relating  to  the  coupling  device  and  the  reverse  of  wheeled 
agricultural or forestry tractors3 has been substantially amended several times4. In the 
interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified. 

for 

in  Council  Directive  74/150/EEC,  as 

Directive  79/533/EEC  is  one  of  the  separate  Directives  of  the  EC  type-approval 
system  provided 
replaced  by 
Directive 2003/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 
on type-approval of agricultural or forestry tractors, their trailers and interchangeable 
towed machinery, together with their systems, components and separate technical units 
and  repealing  Directive  74/150/EEC5  and 
technical  prescriptions 
concerning  the  design  and  construction  of  agricultural  or  forestry  tractors  as  regards 
the  coupling  device  and  the  reverse.  Those  technical  prescriptions  concern  the 

lays  down 

OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ L 145, 13.6.1979, p. 20. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 1999/58/EC (OJ L 148, 
15.6.1999, p. 37). 
See Annex III, Part A. 
OJ  L  171,  9.7.2003,  p.  1.  Directive  as  last  amended  by  Council  Directive  2006/96/EC  (OJ  L  363, 
20.12.2006, p. 81). 

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approximation  of  the  laws  of  the  Member  States  to  enable  the  EC  type-approval 
procedure provided for in Directive 2003/37/EC to be applied in respect of each type 
of tractor. Consequently the provisions laid down in Directive 2003/37/EC relating to 
agricultural and forestry tractors, their trailers  and interchangeable towed machinery, 
together  with  their  systems,  components  and  separate  technical  units  apply  to  this 
Directive.  

(3) 

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 III, Part B, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

(cid:208) 79/533/EEC 

Article 1 

1. ‘(Agricultural or forestry) tractor’ means any motor vehicle, fitted with wheels or endless 
tracks and having at least two axles, the main function of which lies in its tractive power and 
which is specially designed to tow, push, carry or power certain tools, machinery or trailers 
intended for agricultural or forestry use. It may be equipped to carry a load and passengers. 

2. This Directive shall apply only to tractors defined in paragraph 1 which are equipped with 
pneumatic tyres and have a maximum design speed of between 6 and (cid:206)1 40 km/h . 

(cid:208) 82/890/EEC Art. 1(1) (adapted) 
(cid:206)1 97/54/EC Art. 1 

(cid:208) 79/533/EEC 

Article 2 

No Member State may refuse to grant EC type-approval or national type-approval of a tractor 
on grounds relating to the coupling device or to the reverse if these satisfy the requirements 
set out in Annexes I and II. 

Article 3 

No Member State may refuse the registration or prohibit the sale, entry into service or use of 
tractors  on  grounds  relating  to  the  coupling  device  or  to  the  reverse,  if  these  satisfy  the 
requirements set out in Annexes I and II. 

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(cid:208) 79/533/EEC (adapted) 

Article 4 

⌦ The ⌫ amendments necessary to adapt the requirements of Annexes I and II to ⌦ take 
account  of ⌫  technical  progress  shall  be  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  procedure 
⌦ referred to ⌫ in Article ⌦ 20 (2) ⌫ of Directive ⌦ 2003/37/EC ⌫. 

(cid:208) 79/533/EEC 

Article 5 

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

(cid:208)  

Article 6 

Directive 79/533/EEC, as amended by the Directives listed in Annex III, 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 III, 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 in Annex IV. 

Article 7 

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

It shall apply from [...]. 

(cid:208) 79/533/EEC Art. 6 

Article 8 

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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(cid:208) 79/533/EEC  

ANNEX I 

COUPLING DEVICE 

1. 

Number 

Every  tractor  must  have  a  special  device  to  which  it  must  be  possible  to  attach  a 
connection such as a tow-bar or a tow-rope for towing purposes. 

2. 

Position 

The device must be fitted to the front of the tractor, which must be equipped with a 
coupling pin. 

3. 

Design 

The device shall be of the slotted-jaw type. The opening at the centre of the locking 
pin shall be 60 mm + 0,5/- 1,5 mm and the depth of the jaw measured from the centre 
of the pin shall be 62 mm ± 0,5 mm. 

(cid:208) 1999/58/EC Art. 1 pt. 1 

(cid:208) 79/533/EEC (adapted) 

The coupling pin must have a diameter of 30 + 1,5 mm and be fitted with a device 
preventing it from leaving its seating during use. The securing device must be non-
detachable. 

The tolerance of + 1,5 referred to above should not be regarded as a manufacturing 
tolerance but as a permissible variation in nominal dimensions for pins of different 
designs. 

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ANNEX II 

REVERSE 

All  tractors  must  be  equipped  with  a  device  for  reversing  which  can  be  operated  from  the 
driving position. 

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(cid:207) 

ANNEX III 

Part A 

Repealed Directive with list of its successive amendments 
(referred to in Article 6) 

Council Directive 79/533/EEC 
(OJ L 145, 13.6.1979, p. 20) 

Council Directive 82/890/EEC 
(OJ L 378, 31.12.1982, p. 45) 

Directive 97/54/EC of the European Parliament 
and of the Council 
(OJ L 277, 10.10.1997, p. 24) 

Commission Directive 1999/58/EC 
(OJ L 148, 15.6.1999, p. 37) 

Only as regards the references made in 
Article 1(1) to Directive 79/533/EEC  

Only as regards the references made in 
the 
to 
Directive 79/533/EEC  

indent  of  Article  1 

first 

Part B 

List of time-limits for transposition into national law and application 
(referred to in Article 6) 

Directive 

Time-limit for transposition 

Date of application 

79/533/EEC 

82/890/EEC 

97/54/EC 

1999/58/EC 

21 November 1980 

21 June 1984 

22 September 1998 

23 September 1998 

30 June 2000(*) 

(*) 

In compliance with Article 2 of Directive 1999/58/EC: 

“1. 

From 1 July 2000, Member States may not: 

– 

refuse to grant EC-type approval, to issue the document provided for in the third indent 
of Article 10(1) of Directive 74/150/EEC, or to grant national type-approval, in respect 
of a type of tractor, or 

– 

prohibit the entry into service of tractors, 

if the tractors in question comply with the requirements of Directive 79/533/EEC, as amended 
by this Directive. 

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2. 

From 1 January 2001, Member States: 

– 

– 

may  no  longer  issue  the  document  provided  for  in  the  third  indent  of  Article 10(1)  of 
Directive  74/150/EEC  in  respect  of  a  type  of  tractor  which  does  not  meet  the 
requirements of Directive 79/533/EEC, as amended by this Directive, 

may refuse to grant national type-approval in respect of a type of tractor which does not 
meet the requirements of Directive 79/533/EEC, as amended by this Directive.” 

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ANNEX IV 

CORRELATION TABLE 

Directive 79/533/EEC 

This Directive 

Articles 1 to 4 

Article 5(1) 

Article 5(2) 

- 

Article 6 

Annex I  

Annex II 

- 

- 

Articles 1 to 4 

- 

Article 5 

Articles 6 and 7 

Article 8 

Annex I  

Annex II 

Annex III 

Annex IV 

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