CELEX: 51997PC0229
Language: en
Date: 1997-05-22
Title: Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on masses and dimensions and amending Directive 70/156/EEC relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                      Brussels, 22.05.1997
                                      COM(97) 229 final - COD 348
                    OPINION OF THE COMMISSION
            pursuant to Article 189 b (2) (d) of the EC Treaty,
                 on the European Parliament's amendments
             to the Council's common position regarding the
                               proposal for a
       EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
on masses and dimensions and amending Directive 70/Î 56/EEC relating to the type-
                   approval of motor vehicles and their trailers
        AMENDING THE PROPOSAL OF THE COMMISSION
              pursuant to Article 189 a (2) of the EC Treaty
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak--- Parliament on 09-04-1997 adopted two amendments to the common position adopted by
the Council on 28-11-1996 on a European Parliament and Council Directive on masses
and dimensions and amending Directive 70/156/EEC.
In accordance with Article 189b(2)(d) of the Treaty, the Commission hereby delivers a
favourable opinion on these amendments, on the following grounds:
1      The proposed additional wording in Amendment 1 (recital 1) is a matter of
      clarification and does not change the substance of the paragraph.
2     The proposed additional wording in Amendment 2 (recital 6) refers "to pursue the
      constant improvement of safety, in particular regarding to the use of certain
      categories of carriages or trailers". It stresses the importance of the improvement of
      safety of vehicles and trailers, an objective to which the Commission can adhere.
For these reasons, the Commission has decided, in line with Article 189a of the EC
Treaty, to alter its proposal so as to incorporate the amendments adopted by the
Parliament.
Given the closeness of the dates of entry into force foreseen in the common position, it
considers it a matter of urgency that the Council modifies its common position
accordingly and adopts the text in question.
 ---pagebreak---     Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive
 on masses and dimensions and amending Directive 70/156/EEC relating to
            the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189a(2) of the EC Treaty)
                                      4
 ---pagebreak---      Common position of the Council                      Amendments by Parliament
                                        (Amendment 1)
                                           Recital 1
Whereas the total harmonisation of              Whereas the total harmomsation of
technical requirements for motor vehicles is    technical requirements for motor vehicles is
necessary to achieve the smooth                 necessary to achieve the smooth
functioning of the internal market;             functioning of the internal market while
                                                ensuring a high level of safety for the
                                                public.
                                        (Amendment 2)
                                           Recital 6
Whereas,      as a consequence,             the Whereas,       as a consequence,            the
harmomsation of the maximum authorised           harmomsation of the maximum authorised
masses of motor vehicles and their trailers      masses of motor vehicles and their trailers
to be registered in the member States does       to be registered in the member States does
not appear to be feasible in the short term;     not appear to be feasible in the short term;
whereas on the other hand it does now            whereas on the other hand it does now
appear feasible to achieve, as far as            appear feasible to achieve, as far as
possible, the harmonisation of their             possible, the harmomsation of their
maximum dimensions, and to deal with the         maximum dimensions, to deal with the
question of masses by providing for the          question of masses by providing for the
possibility of a uniform procedure to            possibility of a uniform procedure to
determine      the      registration/in-service  determine      the     registration/in-service
maximum permissible masses of vehicles in        maximum permissible masses of vehicles in
each member State;                               each member State, and to pursue the
                                                 constant improvement of safety, in
                                                 particular with regard to certain categories
                                                 of trailers;
                                                M-
 ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                            COM(97) 229 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                        07 06
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-219-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-78-19734-3
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg
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