Historic vehicles exempt from MOT – Attwood Northern Ireland Environment Minister Alex Attwood announced on Monday 29th April 2013 that he is exempting pre-1960 historic vehicles from the MOT test. All historic vehicles with a manufacture date before 1960, which have not undergone substantial change, will be exempt from the MOT test. It would seem […]

Update on Road Worthiness Testing The EU parliament’s (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) IMCO Committee discussed the Commission’s proposal for harmonised road worthiness testing in Europe yesterday, the most important outcome is that the Committee voted for the proposal to become a Directive (in line with the EU Council’s position) rather than for a Regulation […]

Recently the UK MEP Brian Simpson (Chairman of the Transport And Tourism Committee), astounded motorcyclists with his comment at the end of a discussion about the Road Worthiness Testing (RWT) proposal (which his committee is tasked to examine on behalf of the European parliament) that he was astounded that 12 member states do not have […]

As reported by some European rider organisations, the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) argues that, “Road users and motorcyclists in particular, have serious doubts about the objectiveness of the EU decision-making process and the actual motives and democratic values of our representatives.” FEMA adds, “It would not be the first time the EU has […]

In January we reported on the TRAN (Transport and Tourism) committees Public Hearing on the European Commission’s proposals for European wide Road Worthiness Testing (RWT), registration documents for vehicles and roadside inspections of commercial vehicles. The hearing involving two expert panels, with those on the panel giving an opinion on roadworthiness checks, road safety as […]

The RWT (Road Worthiness Testing) procedures are probably as interesting as dried toast, but as motorcyclists we need to keep on top of these procedures so that we know what our future is. The Commission’s proposal if implemented would create enormous change across Europe and for different reasons, governments, consumer organisations and politicians have opposing […]

On Tuesday 22nd January 2013, the TRAN Committee held a Public Hearing concerning the proposals for new EU-wide  Road Worthiness Testing (RWT) also known as  Periodical Technical Inspections (PTI) for cars, powered two-wheelers (PTWs – motorcycles – scooters – mopeds) and commercial vehicles and trailers. The European Commission representative commented that, “In a country where […]