I had another reply this morning from the office of my Labour MEP, very encouraging but we still need to keep the pressure on so keep writing to anyone who can take up our cause.
Dear John Pankhurst,
Thank you for your recent e-mail alerting me to your concerns over proposed
changes to the requirements for classic or heritage car owners. As well as
myself, I am replying on behalf of my Labour MEP colleague, Arlene McCarthy,
to whom you have also written on this matter.
These are proposals that were put forward by the European Commission in
July. The usual EU legislative process is for the European Commission to
initiate legislation and then for the European Parliament and Council (where
the 27 national Governments sit) to scrutinise and amend the proposals
before any changes are passed into law.
At this stage the European Commission's proposals have just been transmitted
to the European Parliament and MEPs will, over the coming months, have the
chance to put forward changes they feel are necessary to improve the
European Commission's text. This means that we have a lot of scope to change
elements of the Commission proposal that we do not like and this is
precisely the work that I will be doing over the next few months.
Turning now to the content of the Commission's revision proposals, I would
first of all like to make it clear that any new changes must be about
finding a good balance between ensuring high standards of road safety and
putting in place rules that are proportionate to the associated risks. While
I welcome some of the sensible changes proposed by the Commission I am not
in favour of imposing excessive regulations that in effect prevent owners of
historic and/or modified vehicles from continuing to enjoy their pastime.
It is for this reason that just last week I raised your concerns over the
alleged restrictions on modifying vehicles directly with the European
Commission. I had a meeting with Commission officials responsible for
writing this legislation and they clarified that the new legislation does
not in any way prevent vehicle owners from modifying their vehicles. We
believe the confusion may have stemmed from the new requirement for vehicle
manufacturers to provide testing centres with access to the technical
information necessary for MOT tests. This requirement, however, does not in
any way mean that all components would have to conform with those which were
on the car when it was first registered or that vehicles will be failed
their MOT test due to alterations.
The intention is simply to ensure that vehicle manufacturers release
technical information that could assist and facilitate testers in doing
their job. The legislation does not make any reference to failing motorists
on their MOT tests on the basis of any modifications to their vehicle. I am
providing you with a link below to the specific legislative proposal. You
can find the reference to this requirement on page 15, under Article 4.
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/pdf/road_worthiness_package/propos
al_for_a_regulation_on_periodic_roadworthiness_tests_en.pdf
The Transport Commissioner, Siim Kallas, will be coming to the European
Parliament's Transport Committee during the afternoon of 17th September,
where I will ask him to publicly confirm that motorists will be allowed to
keep on modifying their vehicles. You will be able to follow this meeting
via webstreaming at the following link
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees.
I hope this response has helped allay your concerns over the new EU changes
affecting MOT tests.
Best wishes,
Brian Simpson MEP
How refreshing