COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Accompanying the Impact Assessment report of the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2014/45/EU on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers, Directive 2014/47/EU on the technical roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles circulating in the Union, and Directive 1999/37/EC on the registration documents for vehicles
Date: 2025-04-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: data recording, exchange of information, information system, road safety, road transport, roadworthiness tests, technical regulations, vehicle, vehicle documents, vehicle registration

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.4.2025  SWD(2025) 99 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  Accompanying the Impact Assessment report of the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2014/45/EU on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers, Directive 2014/47/EU on the technical roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles circulating in the Union, and Directive 1999/37/EC on the registration documents for vehicles {COM(2025) 179 final} - {SEC(2025) 119 final} - {SWD(2025) 96 final} - {SWD(2025) 97 final} - {SWD(2025) 98 final}  
 
 
To  address  the  safety-  and  health-related  defects  of  vehicles,  roadworthiness  testing  has  been  in 
place in Europe for decades and subject to gradual harmonisation in the Union, with the first set of 
common rules adopted in 19761 and last revised in 2014 as part of the Roadworthiness Package 
(RWP).  The package consists of three Directives:  

•  Directive 2014/45/EU2 on periodic roadworthiness  tests  (hereinafter the "Periodic 
Technical  Inspection  or  PTI  Directive")  requires  that  road  transport  vehicles  are 
periodically tested to ensure compliance with a set of minimum requirements, and it 
applies  to  all  cars,  vans,  trucks  and  buses,  heavy  trailers,  faster  tractors  as  well  as, 
since January 2022, to larger two- and three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles.  

•  Directive 2014/47/EU3 on technical roadside inspections (hereinafter the “Technical 
Roadside Inspection or RSI Directive) complements the PTI Directive, in relation to 
roadside inspections of heavy passenger and freight vehicles and their trailers.  

•  Directive 2014/46/EU4 on the registration documents for vehicles (hereinafter the 
"Vehicle  Registration  Documents  or  VRD  Directive")  provides  for  the  electronic 
recording  of  data  on  all  vehicles  registered  on  a  Member  State’s  territory,  and 
harmonised procedures in relation to the suspension of a vehicle’s registration. 

Main findings 

Effectiveness:  Regarding  roadworthiness  emission  checks,  the  effectiveness  of  the  RWP  is 
limited  as  the  current  test  requirements  under  PTI  and  RSI  are  not  suited  to  testing  the 
functioning  of  recent  emission  control  systems  and  must  therefore  be  updated.  Opacity 
testing  measurement  is  outdated  as  it  cannot  detect  diesel  vehicles  with  defective  particle 
filters or a tampered catalyst, which lead to high particle and NOx emissions. Instead, PN and 
NOx measurement should be used to verify newer diesel and petrol vehicles to detect defects 
and tampering with emission control systems.  

Regarding  improvement  of  the  exchange  of  information  on  vehicle  data  between  Member 
States, the current framework for information exchange has not been effective. Although the 
legislation  mentions  electronic  data  exchanges  between  Member  States  authorities  as  a 
possibility,  not  all  countries  use  this.  Even  if  the  harmonisation  of  vehicle  registration 
documents made it easier for citizens to register vehicles from other Member States and EEA, 
there is significant room for improvement, notably through digitalisation. Re-registration can 
still be a cumbersome process and the RWP currently prevents the mutual recognition of PTIs 
between  Member  States,  which  represents  administrative  burden  and  a  barrier  to  free 
movement. 

Efficiency:  Digitalisation  can  help  in  streamlining  the  vehicle  re-registration  process:  the 
RWP  should  use  the  benefits  of  digital  data  exchange  and  further  harmonisation  of  vehicle 
documents to  reduce the administrative burden and costs associated with  the process.  Also, 
digital (mobile) vehicle registration documents could further facilitate the digitalisation of the 
vehicle registration and data-keeping processes and reduce costs. 

1 Council Directive 77/143/EEC of 29 December 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States 

relating to roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers, OJ L 47, 18.2.1977, p. 47–51 

2 It repeals Directive 2009/40/EC; EUR-Lex - 32014L0045 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu) 
3 It repeals Directive 2000/30/EC; EUR-Lex - 32014L0047 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu) 
4 It amends Directive 1999/37/EC; EUR-Lex - 32014L0046 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu) 

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Relevance:  The  RWP  is  not  adapted  to  the  latest  technologies  such  as  advanced  driver 
assistance systems (e.g. ADAS) and electronic safety features, for which the RWP currently 
does not provide a sufficiently comprehensive framework. It does not contain specific testing 
protocols  which  would  ensure  the  compliance  and  maintenance  of  electric  and  hybrid 
vehicles,  including  their  software  updates.  Technical  inspections  would  have  to  be  updated 
for  the  efficient  acquisition  of  important  safety-related  data  and  the  monitoring  of  new 
sensors  and  functions.  Regarding  emissions,  some  of  the  PTI  tests  and  equipment  must  be 
adapted  as  they  are  no  longer  capable  of  detecting  emission  failures  in  the  most  recent 
internal combustion engine vehicles. 

Coherence:  More  consistency  should  be  ensured  between  the  type-approval  regulation  and 
the RWP. The coherence between the RWP and relevant EU instruments could be improved 
through the standardisation of safety-relevant vehicle data and the related responsibilities for 
manufacturers  during  the  vehicle’s  lifecycle.  Defining  responsibilities  more  clearly  and 
mandating that relevant information is made available for PTIs across Member States could 
reduce uncertainty and time spent on searching for the relevant information, thus improving 
the  overall  accuracy  and  efficiency  of  inspections.  The  RWP  should  be  also  better  aligned 
with the General Safety Regulation5. 

EU added value: The RWP sets a minimum standard for all Member States and provides a 
basic  framework  for  detecting  vehicle  defects  affecting  roadworthiness,  ensuring  that  all 
Member  States  take  action  to  improve  road  safety.  Further  harmonisation  of  the  minimum 
PTI and RSI requirements  would be useful to  improve consistency of legislation, standards 
and practices within the EU. There is scope to improve mutual recognition of PTIs between 
the  Member  States,  which  would  add  value  to  the  EU  internal  market,  while  it  would  also 
help to increase vehicle safety and environmental protection. 

The  evaluation  concluded  that  the  RWP  was  only  partially  successful  in  achieving  its 
objectives  of  contributing  to  increased  road  safety  and  helping  reducing  air  pollutant 
emissions from road transport. Defective vehicles may still not always be detected, as some 
categories of vehicles are not subject to PTI or RSI in some Member States, or the frequency 
or  scope  of  the  testing  is  not  adapted  to  their  higher  safety  and  environmental  risk.  The 
identified weaknesses in the current RWP require the Directives to be adapted, to address not 
only  current  needs  but  also  future  challenges,  such  as  the  testing  of  advanced  driver 
assistance and automated systems. 

5  Regulation  (EU)  2019/2144 of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  27  November  2019  on  type-
approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers, and systems, components and separate technical 
units intended for such vehicles, as regards their general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and 
vulnerable road users, amending Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/2144/oj  

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