Directive 2014/46/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 amending Council Directive 1999/37/EC on the registration documents for vehicles

29.4.2014 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 127/129
DIRECTIVE 2014/46/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 3 April 2014
amending Council Directive 1999/37/EC on the registration documents for vehicles
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 91 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
After consulting the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),
Whereas:
(1) Roadworthiness testing is a part of a wider regime ensuring that vehicles are kept in a safe and environmentally acceptable condition during their use. That regime should provide for periodic roadworthiness testing of vehicles and technical roadside inspection of vehicles used for commercial road transport activities as well as a vehicle registration procedure allowing for the suspension of a vehicle’s authorisation to be used in road traffic where the vehicle constitutes an immediate risk to road safety.
(2) The registration of a vehicle provides administrative authorisation for its entry into service in road traffic. Council Directive 1999/37/EC (3) applies only to the granting of a registration for vehicles. Nevertheless, especially in cases where the use of a vehicle on public roads would create a risk on account of its technical condition, it should be possible to suspend authorisation of the use of that vehicle for a certain period of time. To reduce the administrative burden resulting from suspension, it should not be necessary to go through a new process of registration when the suspension is lifted.
(3) An obligation to cancel permanently the registration of a vehicle notified as having been treated as an end-of-life vehicle in accordance with Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) should be introduced. Member States have the possibility to specify in national law other reasons for cancelling a vehicle registration.
(4) Even where a vehicle registration has been cancelled, it should be possible to retain a record of that registration.
(5) In order to reduce administrative burdens and to ease the exchange of information between Member States, information relating to vehicles should be recorded electronically.
(6) This Directive should not prevent a Member State from regarding the electronic dataset kept by its competent authorities as the main source of information about a vehicle registered in its territory. It should be possible for Member States to use an electronic network, comprising data from national electronic databases, in order to facilitate the exchange of information.
(7) In cases where dangerous deficiencies have been found during a roadworthiness test and the authorisation of a vehicle for use on public roads has been suspended, that suspension should be recorded until the vehicle has passed a new roadworthiness test.
(8) In order to update point II.4, second indent and point III.1.A (b) of both Annex I and Annex II to Directive 1999/37/EC in the event of enlargement of the Union, as well as to update point II.6 of Annex I related to non mandatory elements in the event of changes of definitions or the content of certificates of conformity in the relevant Union type-approval legislation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The Commission, when preparing and drawing up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and to the Council.
(9) Directive 1999/37/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,