Council Directive 80/1268/EEC of 16 December 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the fuel consumption of motor vehicles

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE  of 16 December 1980  on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the fuel consumption of motor vehicles  (80/1268/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas the technical requirements which motor vehicles must satisfy pursuant to certain national laws relate inter alia to the method of measuring fuel consumption which must be used to indicate the fuel consumption of a vehicle type;
Whereas those requirements differ from one Member State to another ; whereas this results in technical barriers to trade which must be eliminated by all Member States adopting the same requirements either in addition to or in place of their existing rules, in order in particular to allow the EEC type-approval procedure which was the subject of Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (4), as last amended by Directive 80/1267/EEC (5), to be introduced in respect of each type of vehicle;
Whereas it is of paramount importance to establish a method of measuring fuel consumption by motor vehicles for inclusion in Community requirements;
Whereas a Community method of measuring fuel consumption is also necessary to ensure, in particular, that customers and users are supplied with objective and precise information;
Whereas the requirements of this Directive apply only to motor vehicles in international motor vehicle classification category M1 as set out in Directive 70/156/EEC ; whereas a method of measuring the fuel consumption of the other categories of motor vehicles will be established as soon as certain technical difficulties can be resolved,