The driving licence directive. There was a failure to agree on the compromise text proposed by the Luxemburg Presidency at the 27th June Transport Council. This goes against the decisions of the European Parliament and the commission.
The U.K. may table this directive during its presidency. Of especial interest to the FIVA is the proposal that “B” licence holders may drive a historic truck or ‘bus for non-commercial purposes and that a “B” licence holder ay drive a vehicle/trailer weight combination up to 4250 kg. This first amendment received little support on the grounds that it would not contribute towards road safety. A concept that can be challenged by quoting the U.K. experience. The second amendment is a cause for concern from the owners of vehicles used for off-the-road competition, for the owners of boats of all types, for the horse owners and riders and for the caravanning interests.
The Commission has adopted a proposal on taxation that is designed to eliminate obstacles to the free movement and transfer of vehicles within the internal market but which is also intended to promote environmental sustainability. The aim is to restructure vehicle-related taxes with the objective to abolish Registration Taxes by 2016. This would be replaced by Annual circulation taxes and - where necessary- other taxes; one aspect being a CO2 based element. Whilst tax revenue will be meant to remain neutral as a result of these proposals, historic vehicles emitting higher levels of CO2 could be affected disproportionably. Taxation based on environmental specifications would prove disproportionate to historic vehicles because their circulation mileage is far lower that that of modern vehicles.
The FIVA is taking discussions forward with the UK presidency of the Council –which will be managing Council deliberations on this proposal in the next six months.
The strategies for seven environmental ‘themes’ will be released by the Environment Commissioner between September and December 2005.
The Air quality strategy (CAFÉ) is likely to be the first strategy to be adopted and along with ‘the urban environment’ strategy these are likely to be our main concern. The proposal is to reduce significantly the levels of the five key air pollutants by 2020.
We need to be aware of the new standards proposed for car emissions that will come into force in 2008. The standards are likely to include particulate filters for all new diesel cars to cut emissions from 25mg/km to 5mg/km and for similar reductions in NOX emissions. The intention is to include SUV’s in this legislation by closing a loophole created by the definitions applied to them.
The Legislation Commissions report on EU issues during 2006.
