In 2012 many important decisions have been taken in Brussels which will impact motorcycling and the motorcycle industry, for which FEMA has played an active role.
The new European regulation on the approval of two-wheelers, which has recently been approved by the European Parliament and by the Council, is bringing safer and greener bikes to European customers as from 2016. FEMA has reached acceptable compromises regarding issues like vehicle tampering, the accessibility of repair and maintenance information and durability requirements for pollution control devices, while supporting the introduction of stricter emission limits.
New on the Brussels agenda is the proposal of the European Commission to introduce periodic roadworthiness tests for all powered two-wheelers in Europe along with short testing intervals. FEMA rejects this proposal as it is expensive and ineffective in terms of motorcycle safety.
Talking about the safety of motorcyclists, FEMA has organized and participated in a series of events this year in order to keep the issue of “friendly” road restraint systems (also referred as crash barriers) high on the political agenda. Next to the publication of an elaborated manual for road authorities, FEMA has launched a website to promote and inform about motorcycle friendly road restraint systems already available on the market: http://www.mc-roadsidebarriers.eu/
RIDERSCAN, FEMA’s EU co-funded project, has gone public at the European Motorcyclists Forum held this year at INTERMOT. A pan-European survey on motorcyclists and motorcycling safety will enable FEMA to draw the right picture of motorcycling in Europe: http://www.fema-online.eu/riderscan/-Answer-the-survey,28-?lang=en
Available languages currently include English, French, German and Norwegian. Besides, interested riders are able to contribute to the project by providing relevant motorcycle safety resources for the project to consider: http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?page=support#panel
We are looking forward to the challenges of 2013 as FEMA and its member organizations are committed to continue the successful promotion of motorcycling in the European Union.
Let me personally take this opportunity to warmly thank you for your support and wish you all the very best for the end of the year’s celebrations and this coming New Year.
Ride Safe
–Aline Delhaye
General Secretary of FEMA
BRUSSELS ADOPTS TYPE APPROVAL REGULATION
The regulation on the approval and market surveillance of powered two-wheelers has been approved in first reading by the European Parliament and the Council. Motorcyclists welcome the agreed compromises. The regulation is setting new rules and technical requirements for manufacturers who sell motorcycles in the European Union.
Three weeks after the European Parliament, on 11th December the Council has approved the type approval regulation of two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles. As from 2016, Member States of the EU will no longer have the option to restrict the maximum power output of motorcycles to 74 kW. New motorcycles with an engine capacity exceeding 125 cm3 (sub-categories A2 and A3) will have to be equipped with Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) while light motorcycles (sub-category A1) between 51 and 125 cm3 will have to have at least Combined Braking Systems (CBS).
Measures to prevent tampering of the powertrain are going to be installed on all new powered two wheelers with a performance of up to 35 kW (sub-categories B, A1 and A2). The riders organizations represented by FEMA successfully managed to exclude A3 motorcycles and sidecars from these measures. Similarly, special schemes for the approval of individually built motorcycles remain in place, which means that the possibility to exempt custom motorcycles from some of the strict measures of this regulation remains.
Emissions limits for motorcycles will become stricter in two stages. In 2016 EURO 4 and in 2020 EURO 5 applies for new types of motorcycles (A1, A2 and A3). FEMA had called for high durability requirements to guarantee that emissions remain on a low level throughout the lifetime of the vehicle. The European Parliament has now decided that manufacturers will need to prove the durability of pollution control devices for a mileage of 35.000 kilometers.
In order to increase competition and to help especially small and independent workshops, manufacturers will have to provide easy and unrestricted access to maintenance and repair information for their products. At the same time access ports to On-Board Diagnostic systems, whose installation will also be required as from 2016 for new motorcycles, are going to be standardized.
The details of the regulation, laid down in delegated acts, are being developed by the European Commission until spring 2014. FEMA and the motorcycle manufacturers will closely follow this work.
RIDERSCAN – THE EUROPEAN PROJECT ON MOTORCYCLE SAFETY
The RIDERSCAN project was publicly launched at the European Motorcyclists Forum (EMF) on the 3rd of October 2012 during the INTERMOT fair in Cologne.
RIDERSCAN is a project co-funded by the European Commission aiming at gathering the existing knowledge on motorcycle safety in order to identify missing information and good practices, and provide guidance to national and European road authorities.
Among its objectives, the project aims at providing an accurate picture of motorcycling throughout Europe. A pan-European survey on motorcycle safety was set up aiming at mapping the motorcycle community across Europe. The survey is currently available in English, Swedish, German, French and Norwegian, and has been formerly launched in in Sweden, in partnership with MC-Folket. Further translations and country launches are planned throughout 2013: http://www.fema-online.eu/riderscan-survey
Beside the survey a contribution tool is available online and allows anyone with an interest in motorcycle safety to submit relevant information, success stories, data and other achievements for further consideration by the project team. European motorcyclists are invited to provide any relevant information for motorcycle safety: http://www.fema-online.eu/riderscan/contribute?lang=en
Among the coming public activities of the project, the project team is looking at the launch of an intelligent application enabling motorcyclists to quickly report on good and bad infrastructure practices anywhere in Europe. The European Motorcyclists Forum will take place in Brussels, sometime clos to December, and will focus on ICT/ITS. Further reporting activities aiming at gathering the existing knowledge from the motorcycling community are currently being considered for dissemination at national level.
MEMBER STATES REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES OF PROPOSED REGULATION ON PERIODIC ROADWORTHINESS TESTING
EU member states have drafted significant changes to the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on periodic roadworthiness tests. Following their Council meeting they suggest to turn the regulation into a directive and, partly in response to the pressure of motorcyclists’ associations, to continue to leave it to the discretion of a member state to require periodic roadworthiness tests (RWT) for motorcycles.
In a meeting beginning of December the member states of the European Union have again expressed their discontent with the proposal of the European Commission to further harmonise and increase the minimum testing intervals for vehicles and to include all powered two-wheelers into periodic RWT regimes.
While the proposal for this new regulation is currently being revised by the Transport Committee of the European Parliament – Parliament needs to take an official position on the dossier previous to the Council – the member states have already indicated that they can only approve the draft if it is amended considerably.
First of all, member states aim at turning the proposed regulation into a directive, which would leave them more leeway for the later implementation of the legal act into national law. Furthermore, the Council does not see the necessity to force all member states to include all kinds of powered two-wheelers into periodic RWT regimes. Only Romania and the Czech Republic seem to have reservations and Italy would like to mandate RWT in Europe for all mopeds and scooters up to 50 cm3.
In opposition to the Commission, Member States propose less strict RWT for vehicles which are hardly used on public roads, such as historic or competition vehicles. The Commission originally proposed annual checks as a minimum requirement for all motor vehicles older than six years. According to the Council, the minimum test requirements for cars should be four years after the first registration and thereafter every two years, the following annual requirement has been deleted.
FEMA is happy to see that the campaigns of its national organisations, especially in those countries where there is no RWT for motorcycles, seem to be successful. The Commission had argued that the inclusion of motorcycles into RWT along with the tightening of testing intervals would have significant positive safety and environmental impacts but could not support these arguments with sound statistical data.
Follow the issue on the dedicated FEMA website on RWT: http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?page=rwt
Join our dedicated facebook site which is about to reach 1000 followers: http://www.facebook.com/NoToUselessMandatoryInspections
UPCOMING EVENTS
ACEM, the association of motorcycle manufacturers organises its 9th Annual Conference on 22 January 2013. Under the topic “Motorcycling Matters!” the conference will explore the contribution of mobility, sports and tourism to EU policy goals http://acem.eu/index.php/events/conferences/123-9th-acem-conference
On the 1st and 2nd of February 2013 FEMA will hold its annual meeting at the Elefantentreffen in Thurmansbang, Germany http://www.bvdm.de/et.html
The Big Bike Show in Essen, Germany will take place from 10th-12th May 2013 http://www.bigbikeeurope.com/
FEMA – Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations
Rue des Champs 62
1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel +32 2 7369047
Fax +32 2 7369401
Mobile +32 484 976170
www.fema-online.eu
