CELEX: 51989PC0200
Language: en
Date: 1989-04-12
Title: RE-EXAMINED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE CONCERNING THE SIDE PROTECTION OF VEHICLES ( PRESENTED BY THE COMMISSION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 149.2 ( D ) OF THE EEC TREATY )

No C 116/8                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                   9. 5. 89
                                                              II
                                                     (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
               Re-examined proposal for a Council Directive concerning the side protection of vehicles (')
                                               COM(89) 200 final — SYN 87
              (Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 149 (2) (d) of the EEC Treaty on 12 April
                                                            1989)
                                                       (89/C 116/13)
              Re-examined proposal concerning the side protection of vehicles, following the opinion delivered by
                              the European Parliament on second reading on 15 February 1989
Procedure followed                                                — to reintroduce the Advisory Committee procedure
                                                                      instead of the Regulatory Committee procedure
The proposal for a Directive at issue had been sent to
                                                                      (Article 5).
the Council on 12 August 1987 (COM(87) 132 — SYN
87).
                                                                  Commission position
The European Parliament had delivered its opinion on
first reading on 9 March 1988 by approving the proposal           The Commission does not feel it is appropriate to accept
with several amendments.                                          the amendments to the common position since they
The amendments accepted had been included by the                  would delay, or indeed prevent, the adoption and entry
Commission in an amended version of its initial proposal          into force of this Directive, which represents an unden-
that it had sent to the Council on 16 August 1988                 iable improvement to road safety.
(COM(88) 443 final).
The work carried out within the Council had led to                While again expressing its regret on noting that the total
                                                                  harmonization method and the Advisory Committee
a common position which had been adopted on
                                                                  procedure are still not acceptable to the Council the
18 November 1988 (doc. 9616/88 — ECO 105).
                                                                  Commission does not, however, oppose the Council's
The Commission had considered it appropriate not to               common position as regards the method of harmon-
obstruct this common position, and therefore to support           ization and the Committee procedure, but it has the firm
it.                                                               intention of submitting subsequent proposals in view of
                                                                  the large single market in 1992. These proposals will
In its opinion on second reading, delivered on
                                                                  relate to outline Directive 70/156/EEC in such a way
15 February 1989, the European Parliament altered the
                                                                  that they may automatically extend to all of the separate
common position in order:
                                                                  Directives needed in order to implement the type-
— to reintroduce the 'total' method of harmonization              approval procedure for a vehicle, and may include this
     instead of the 'optional' method (Article 4 (1) and          proposal.
     (2)),
— to defer the date of entry into force, set out in Article
                                                                  The Commission sees no point in acting upon the
     4 (2), by five months i.e. from 1 May 1991 to                deferral by five months of the date of entry into force set
     1 October 1991.                                              out in Article 4 (2) in view of the aim pursued by that
                                                                  Directive i.e. to improve road safety, which must be
(•) OJ No C 230, 6. 9. 1988, p. 6.                                achieved as quickly as possible.