Malcolm Harbour, MEP and Chairman of the IMCO Committee (IMCO) and Shadow Rapporteur for the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) has sent an update on the latest developments regarding the approval and market surveillance of two or three-wheeled vehicles and quadricycles.
The update has been sent out in response to riders, who have been campaigning with letter writing. This campaign was organised by one of the rider groups in the UK and other interested citizens. Mr Malcolm Harbour thanks riders for raising a number of detailed and important questions on the draft Regulation.
Mr Harbour wrote that the team in the Internal Market Committee, chaired by himself, is taking all of the points raised points into consideration. He confirms that he has had extensive consultations with motorcycling organisations such as Right To Ride. He has been extremely helpful in our own communication with him and his office.
Setting out an understanding of the political and technical processes of the procedure and confirming our own scribbling’s on the issues, Malcolm Harbour writes: “The Committee has taken its responsibilities very seriously and has given detailed consideration to the complex technical issues involved”.
He continues:
“They have now voted on a first package of amendments, but the substantive opinion will not be final until it has been voted on by the full Parliament.
Before the final vote, there will certainly be fresh amendments tabled by MEPs from different political families, including our own ECR Group.
We expect that these amendments will take into account the results of the Parliament’s own impact assessment on certain of the Committee’s amendments, which should be published on our Committee website in about two weeks.
This impact assessment as well as the March/April timetable for a vote by the full Parliament were both planned by the Committee, and had nothing to do with lobbying by external groups. They are part of a “better regulation” process that we aim to follow throughout.
There is a possibility that the working group of Member State ministries, now under the Chairmanship of Denmark, may invite the Parliament to open negotiations for an early agreement on a final Directive text, if they perceive there is a chance of reaching a well balanced compromise.
However, this is by no means certain.
We are waiting to see what view the governments will take and it could well be that final approval is only achieved after a second round of discussions and votes that will run well into 2012 or even 2013.
We are well aware of the issues that enthusiastic motorcyclists have repeatedly raised with us about anti lock braking and tampering and have considered them in great detail. Most of these concerns are being covered in our impact assessment and I can assure you that your concerns on anti-tampering will also be taken into consideration before the final vote by the full Parliament”.
Mr Harbour concludes:
“You also raise a number of highly detailed points about delegated acts. These are now under discussion within the working group of Member State ministries. The recent document from the Commission you refer to is intended to aid these discussions so that governments can better view the emerging legal framework and identify potential problems early on. The document only represents the Commission’s starting pitch. In any event, the European Parliament will formally scrutinise these delegated acts in due course, when and if they are published, as will the working group of ministries.
Finally, owing to the time required for translations into all official languages, the final version of the Committee Report is not yet available but it will be published shortly. In the meantime, a near final English version is available for information purposes”.
Malcolm Harbour MEP
Chairman of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee”
Information
Well, it does suggest that you haven’t read the previous articles that have been put on this website, the link at the bottom gives the ammendments that are being discussed to the proposal.
Malcolm Harbour’s reply explains that there is an awareness of the issues and these are all still being discussed, therefore no decisions have been made.
So there is nothing to give away, as our previous article said – Nobody Knows – but at least a politician is communicating with riders.
You make the statement,”Sadly you have no idea how important our lifestyle is to us as you tamper with it to justify keeping your job.”
While not defending Malcolm Harbour, how do you know this about him? how do you know this is all about keeping his job?
You see at Right To Ride EU we are fed up with statements and utterences that are swilling around social network sites and Forums even though people are perfectly within their rights to make them and our right to comment on them.
So when it comes to Right To Ride’s website, while we welcome a debate and post up comments, be prepared for our comments about your comments.
Meanwhile you will be able to go back into your shed and make something, because the regulation will not effect current bikes and anything you make (modifying or building a bike/trike) that requires it to be tested (MSVA) you can still do.
In fact within the proposal there are specific exemptions for amateur build motorcycles.
It is important that people make informed decisions about their lifestyle…with the emphasis on informed….
What does any of that mean?
It is just stock answer from the book of how to answer a question without giving anything away?
Sadly you have no idea how important our lifestyle is to us as you tamper with it to justify keeping your job.
I’ll go back to my shed and continue to make something that will probably be made illegal on the grounds that you just don’t get it.
Thanks