Single market, implementation and legislation for consumer goods Automotive industry

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENTERPRISE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL Single market, implementation and legislation for consumer goods Automotive industry Brussels, 8 May 2008 ENTR/F1 JPD SUB-GROUP OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE-MOTOR VEHICLES (TCMV) REPORT ON NEW TEMPLATE OF COC CERTIFICATE * * * * Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Bruxelles / Wetstraat 200, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) Office: BREY 10/008. Telephone: direct line (32-2) U:\AutoDoc\Meetings - U:\Common\JPD\Framework Directive Revison II\CoC revision\final report\report (meetings)

2 Revision of Annex IX to Directive 2007/46/EC (Framework directive) Introduction 1. Two meetings of the sub-group set up within the framework of the Technical Committee Motor Vehicles working party were devoted to the consideration of a new template for the certificate of conformity: first meeting on 4 march 2008 second meeting on 23 march All the Member States agreed that there must be a close link between the information contained in the Certificate of conformity ( the CoC certificate ) and the technical data to be shown on the registration document described in Directive 199/37/EC 1. They also agreed that technical information to be mentioned on the EC registration document should be supplied by the vehicle manufacturer and be covered by Community type-approval. Consequently, the CoC certificate is the relevant source of certified technical information intended for registration purposes. Therefore it is important that it includes all the information necessary to that effect. As the current template of the CoC certificate dates from and as the date of entry into force of Directive 1999/37/EC was 20 June 2004, many entries in the CoC certificate are not necessary anymore for filling in the registration document described in that directive while, by contrast, some entries are missing. All Member States agreed that some amendments have to be made to the template of the CoC certificate and to the registration document. Both should run in parallel. The necessary contacts should be established with DG TREN in order to ensure to the greatest extent possible the consistency between registration and typeapproval procedures. 3. All the Member States stressed the fact that a significant difference exists between procedure for light vehicles and heavy duty vehicles in particular in the field of the maximum permissible mass for use on the roads of a particular Member State. In this respect the maximum mass for registration purposes should be printed in the registration document. Member States found that appropriate schemes should be set up in their respective territories depending on the vehicle category. 1 2 Council Directive 1999/37/EC of 29 April 1999 on the registration documents for vehicles (OJ L 138, , p.57). Commission Directive 98/14/EC of 6 February 1998 adapting to technical progress Council Directive 70/156s/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicle and their trailers (OJ L 91, , p. 1). 2

3 4. In this report are summarized the main conclusions of the sub-group. It presents as a starting point a compendium of the current situation existing in the Member States and their expectations for future development. A. Current and future use of the CoC certificate in the Member States Member States General situation Use of the CoC in case of M1 vehicles light and heavy duty vehicles Belgium: the CoC certificate is used for first registration but it is permissible for the importer to send data electronically to the registration office. Data on the CoC certificate is used for periodical inspection as a reference during carrying out conformity checks. Registration and conformity checks - legal value in the case of transfer of ownership The CoC certificate is part of the official documents of the vehicle and must be transferred to the successive vehicle owners. Bulgaria: The CoC certificate is used for first registration. Germany: the CoC certificate is used for first registration only but data are transferred electronically to a central database managed by the Kraftfahrt Bundesamt. The CoC certificate is used for registration of vehicles imported by individuals. In the future, vehicles belonging to category M 2, M 3, N and O will be treated in a similar way as M 1 vehicles. When the manufacturer sends electronically the whole set of data to KBA, the local registration authorities will receive the necessary information by means of slim files including the necessary electronic registration data. It will remain possible to register vehicles only on the basis of the submission of the CoC certificate in the case of imports by individuals or when no electronic file is available. 3

4 Spain: A national database is constituted on the basis of the technical information included in the type-approval documentation. Preregistration data are sent electronically by the manufacturer s representative. The CoC certificate is used for the purposes of registration of vehicles which have been imported by individuals. France: the CoC certificate is used for registration purposes. Primarily, the registration process uses a database which is constituted with the assistance of the importers on the basis of the typeapproval documentation. With respect to Commercial vehicles, it is intended to create a new database from type-approval documentation for the purposes of registration; periodical inspection, monitoring, recalls etc. The CoC certificate might also be used for approval of multi-stage built vehicles. Ireland: CoC is used for first registration and taxation purposes. Ireland is currently moving from a taxation regime based on engine characteristics and performance to a regime which will consider CO 2 emissions. Information is provided to the registration authority in an appropriate electronic format by the vehicle manufacturer or his importer. The CoC certificate may be used for checking other data as well. Regarding other vehicle categories, no CoC certificate is used. Only trailers above 3.5 tonnes are currently registered but this situation is about to change. Italy: For M 1 vehicles, registration is based on the CoC certificate. However, data contained in the approval documentation is converted into a database. For speeding up the process, CoC certificate includes a national code which establishes a link between the vehicle and the database. Possibly approval Possibly registration only 4

5 Vehicles imported by individuals are registered on submission of the CoC certificate. The CoC certificate is retained by the registration authority as it may not be used for a second registration. No plan currently exists with respect to registration of vehicles of category other than M 1 but a similar approach will probably apply. Cyprus: the CoC certificate is used for taxation (information on CO 2 emissions) and for registration purposes. Registration and conformity checks The CoC certificate of the first vehicle of a type, variant and version has to be presented to the authority for conformity checks and collection of information needed for registration. Vehicles of the same type, variant and version can be registered automatically by the importer, by entering very limited information into the system (e.g. colour, VIN number, engine number). If the importer does not make use of this process, the CoC certificate must be presented for each vehicle to be registered. Presentation of the CoC certificate is required in the case of new vehicles imported by individuals. Luxemburg: CoC is used for first registration and taxation purposes. The CoC certificate is considered as a vehicle identity paper; it must be transferred to the successive owners of the vehicle. Hungary: the CoC certificate is used for taxation and for registration purposes only although it was previously used for conformity checks on the occasion of the periodical technical inspection. Malta: The CoC is used for registration purposes but is kept by the registration authority and is not used when the vehicle ownership is transferred to a 2 nd owner. Registration and legal value in the case of transfer of ownership Registration purpose only The COC certificate is a source of 5

6 technical information for registration purposes of vehicles belonging to Categories N and O. The Netherlands: vehicles belonging to M 1 category may benefit from a simplified procedure which requires data to be transferred electronically. In such a case, only very limited information collected from the CoC certificate is necessary for registration. Regarding M 1 vehicles which do not benefit from that procedure, a CoC certificate has to be submitted. With respect to vehicles belonging to categories other than M 1 the general procedure requires the use of a central database and the submission of a national CoC. The use of the sole CoC certificate for multi-stage approvals is considered as it would provide relevant information for the last stage without it being necessary to access type-approval documentation. Austria: a database has been constituted for the purposes of registration on the basis of the type-approval documentation but the CoC certificate is used for registration purposes in particular for vehicles imported by individuals. It is considered as one of the vehicle s official identity papers. Its use for vehicle approval of multi-stage built vehicles is considered. Poland: For registration purposes, a national database has been established on the basis of the type-approval certificates issued in Poland and in the EU. The CoC certificate is used for first registration purposes, its data being compared to those of the national database. Additional data required for registration purposes are provided under Entry 50 ( Remarks ) by national delivery networks. As Poland implemented in 2001 a national approval system for commercial vehicles (M, N and O vehicle categories) + legal value Possibly approval Possibly typeapproval Possibly approval 6

7 on the basis of Framework Directive 70/156/EEC, the CoC certificate is used also for national approval of multi-stage built vehicles. Data necessary for bodybuilders must be completed in the certificate of conformity. In the future, Poland intends to use the CoC certificate as a source of technical information for the purposes of individual approval of multi-stage built vehicles. To this effect, it will trace the initial configuration of the vehicle for the purposes of periodical technical inspection. Copy of the CoC certificate will be filled by registration office. Romania: a national database is constituted by the approval authority on the basis of technical information included in the Community or national type-approval documentation. For vehicles belonging to M 1 category, the national database is also fed by information gathered from the CoC certificate. The national database also contains technical information regarding vehicles approved on an individual basis. The necessary data for registration are sent by the approval authority to the registration authority. There is no intention to use the CoC certificate for other purposes as all necessary technical data for registration, taxation and inspection are provided by the approval authority on the basis of the national database. Slovenia: the CoC certificate is used not only for first vehicle registration but also for periodical inspection as source of technical data, allowing simplified conformity checks to be carried out. Finland: A national database is constituted on the basis of the technical information included in Annex III sent by the Member States. Registration and conformity checks Preregistration data are sent electronically by the representative of the manufacturer. Usually preregistration data are more 7

8 limited than data in the CoC certificate because most of the technical information is included in the database; it is linked to individual vehicles through type, variant and version designation. The CoC certificate is used for the purposes of registration of new or used vehicles that have been imported by individuals. Sweden: a centralized registration system has been implemented in conformity with Directive 1999/37/EC. The CoC certificate does not serve any purposes other than for registration. Most importers send data electronically to the registration office. UK: For passenger cars produced in series a sub-set of the data contained in the CoC certificate is transmitted in electronic form and used for registration and taxation purposes. For passenger cars produced in low volume or imported by individuals, a hard copy of the CoC certificate is required to be presented to the authority. The CoC certificate is retained by the vehicle owner but has no practical application after the vehicle is registered. For commercial vehicles belonging to N categories, the national CoC certificate contains the information on the national in-service weight limits and is used as a temporary record of such information until the official document is issued. Additional data is also obtained from the national type-approval documentation concerning the braking arrangements that enable a braking 'code' for the vehicle to be established that facilitates testing during periodical technical inspections. That code is held on a separate database. For vehicles belonging to some bus categories, no national CoC certificate is required. When moving to EC-WVTA for all categories of vehicles, the CoC certificate is seen as the easiest means for collecting necessary technical data that is currently obtained from national type-approval Possibly approval 8

9 documentation and used for registration, taxation. The UK would not require that information needed for periodical technical inspection be shown on the CoC certificate when the importer can provide it by other means. 9

10 B. Range of data on the CoC Most of the Member States shared the opinion that the CoC certificate must describe accurately the particular vehicle to which it refers. Consequently, Member States opposed to have optional equipment described in the CoC certificate. Only a tolerance in Entry Mass in running order was deemed to be acceptable. Whilst different opinions were expressed concerning the span and the position of this tolerance 3, an agreement was reached on a percentage to be aligned on the tolerance included in Directives 95/48/EC and 97/27/EC 4, the tolerance being positioned above the nominal value. C. Use of Entry 50 for providing additional information to the authorities or customers This opportunity is partially covered by Article 6 (2) of Directive 70/156/EEC as amended by Directive 92/53/EEC but has been cancelled in the new Framework Directive 2007/46/EC. Nevertheless, the issue of having additional information in Entry 50 Remarks at the discretion of a Member State was debated but no support was given to this option. Therefore, Entry 50 should be restricted to a limited number of items for which a certain need is proven - for example, optional wheels which could be mounted before the delivery to the purchaser in replacement of OEM equipment could be mentioned therein. D. Suggestions for new entries Year of manufacture Three Member States were supportive of the addition of the date of manufacture as suggested by Poland as it could more easier solve the issue of the registration of end-of series vehicles without the need for the manufacturer to provide a listing of vehicles in stock. The representatives of the industry stressed the fact that it is not always perfectly clear what is the date of manufacture of a vehicle. While it seems obvious that a passenger car is complete when it leaves the assembly line, this is much more difficult in the case of a chassis-cab belonging to vehicle category N 3 which needs to be completed before being put into service. At this stage, it cannot be proven that the knowledge of the precise date when the vehicle leaves the assembly line would simplify the procedure for registration of end-of series vehicles as the provisions in Annex XII require the number of end-of series vehicles being restricted to a percentage of the sales of the preceding year. The date on the CoC certificate is in any case the date where the statement of conformity was made by the manufacturer, it being understood that this date has to be as close as possible to the date when the vehicle was produced. An appropriate footnote could be included in Annex IX as guidance. Engine number 3 4 The tolerance of size is normally defined as the difference between the upper and lower dimensions. Tolerance of 5 % in the case of light vehicles and 3 % in the case of buses and heavy duty vehicles. 10

11 Again, there was no support in favour of the addition of an engine number as there is no obligation in the Community type-approval legislation to put or to stamp a number on the engine block. Maximum permissible laden masses for heavy duty vehicles With respect to heavy duty vehicles, there is some benefit for registration authorities to be informed about the maximum permissible laden masses for registration in the Member State were the vehicle is delivered to customer as it could speed up the registration process. The vehicle manufacturer could be invited to provide this information. The majority of the Member States stated that they would put in place anyway a mechanism through which the masses in registration would be determined by the approval authorities in accordance with the rules described in Annex IV to Directive 97/27/EC. They argued that too many specifics exist under national road traffic law that would limit the use of the information provided on the CoC certificate. Only a limited number of Member States expressed the opinion that the preregistration of a maximum permissible laden mass could simplify the procedures and allow for direct registration. The representatives of the industry stressed the practical difficulties for the manufacturer to identify the particular needs of the transport operators given the wide range of legislative aspects involved: kind of traffic, driving licences, kind or nature of the load transported etc. However, in respect of most of vehicle categories, the technically maximum permissible laden masses would be identical whatsoever the nature of the transport or driving licence of the driver. Moreover, most of the heavy duty vehicles belonging to category N 3, O 3 and O 4 would be used for international traffic for which the maximum permissible masses are fully harmonised with the exception of very few configurations. It is suggested to leave open to vehicle manufacturers the choice of whether or not to mention those masses. List of Regulatory Acts against which vehicles would have to be approved in the case of individual approval of completed vehicles Scenarios other than referring to the type-approval documentation are possible in order to make the approval of multi-stage built vehicles easier. Some representatives of the Member States suggested the inclusion of relevant information on the web-site of the manufacturer. Others suggested adding to the CoC certificate a list of regulatory acts for which further or fresh checks are requested. The later one seems a pragmatic solution which would speed up the process as the authorities would not need to consult the whole set of type-approval documentation. The representatives of the industry expressed concerns about the feasibility of such procedure. In particular, they claim that information to be provided to body-builders would require detailed technical information such as, for example, data concerning completed vehicle stability in the case of high centre of gravity position which could lead to modify the spring rates and/or changing the mass distribution on multi-axle vehicles. Moreover, lists of regulatory acts would not identify modifications made to vehicles such as, for example, extensions of chassis frame, addition of a trailing axle which requires linking to the ABS control system of the drive axle, or changes in fuel tank capacity. 11

12 Very few Member States favoured the one of the other option. Others In reply to the note sent on 20 December , several Member states proposed to include new entries, most of them regarding information on emission control. All new entries suggested were included in meeting document Table including 43 new entries. After consideration of the pros and cons, it was decided to remove most of the proposed entries as they were only supported by one or two Member States. E. Keeping or deleting Entry 47 Fiscal power or national code number A general consensus was reached on the deletion of the table in Entry 47 as information on the taxation regime can be supplied by other means and is not a responsibility of the vehicle manufacturer. It is not either a type-approval related issue. However, there exist some sound arguments in favour of it being kept. As Member States have to create a database for registration purposes, it is not always possible to assign a single set of data to a particular vehicle. The current situation shows that the combination of the type-approval number, the type, the variant and the version allows multiple entries for several technical characteristics. Therefore, allocating a so-called national code to a set of specs is seen as a means to gather easier information needed for registration purposes. The Commission recalled that the table of national codes was introduced in 1998 for the reason that there was no harmonised taxation regime in the Member States. However, checks made recently on a number of CoC certificates showed that Table 47 remains empty most of the time, which means that Member States have put in place a system which allows information on taxation to be collected. Consequently, table 47 could be deleted. However, in order to take into account the concerns expressed by some Member States, special attention shall be paid to the issue of identification of variants and versions which could be reconsidered in the framework of a revision of Annex II. F Other entries Views were exchanged regarding a possible deletion or insertion of some other entries. The following decisions were adopted: Entry 3.1. axle spacing to be kept ; Entry 5 tracks to be kept; Entry 7.1. and 7.2. width to be kept; Entry Distribution of [this] mass to be deleted; Entry Technically permissible [ ] to be deleted; Entry 16. Maximum permissible roof load to be deleted; Entry 17. Maximum mass of trailer to be re-arranged; Entry 18. Maximum mass of combination to be deleted (redundant); Entry For coupling device [ ] to be deleted; 5 ENTR/F1/ JPD D(2007) 38395) Update of the certificate of conformity Framework Directive 2007/46/EC. 12

13 Entry Direct injection to be deleted; Entry 25. fuel to be fine-tuned; Entry 26. engine power electric motor to be added; Entry operating voltage to be deleted; Entry hybrid vehicle to be kept; Entry 35. brief description of braking system to be deleted; Entry 37.A class of vehicles to be kept (check needed); Entry 38. colour of the vehicle to be kept; Entry 39. Tank capacity to be deleted; Entry 40. Maximum crane moment capacity to be deleted; Entry Number and position of seats to be re-arranged; Entry Number of passengers seated (lower/upper deck) not to be included; Entry Approval mark of coupling device to be combined with another entry Entry Euro level to be kept; Entry regulatory acts (emissions) to be kept; Entry EC type-approved [ ] animals to be deleted; Entry 49A. Frontal protection system not to be inserted; Entry 49B. and 49.1.B. Number and capacity of fuel tank not to be inserted; New crosses in table to be added; New footnotes to be added. All changes are reflected in a new table Certificate of Conformity: complete template All Entries Rev xls 13

14 Conclusions on general issues No Member State is challenging the approach according to which the CoC certificate is the relevant source of technical information certified by the vehicle manufacturer to be inserted in the registration document. All agree that some amendments have to be made to the template of the CoC certificate and to the registration document and that both documents should run in parallel. From information provided by the Member States, the CoC certificate is used for registration purposes only. Only a few Member States require it being presented for conformity checks. It has sometimes to be shown for ownership transfer. In a majority of cases; a sub-set of the data contained in the CoC certificate is transmitted in electronic form by the vehicle manufacturer or an authorised distributor. There is sufficient evidence suggesting that a simplification of the template of the CoC certificate is required in order to better match the real needs of the various stakeholders. In particular, given that the taxation regime in the Member States is based on a limited number of technical characteristics in the case of small vehicles, there exist sound arguments in favour of a reduction in the number of entries on the CoC certificate. In the case of vehicle import by individuals, a hard-copy of the CoC certificate has to be submitted to the registration authority. Its use for approving individual vehicles in the case of multi-stage approval has to be considered as it would simplify the type-approval process for transport operators. The Member States support the view that the CoC certificate must describe accurately the particular vehicle to which it refers. No range of values should be permitted with the exception of the mass in running order for which a tolerance of 3 % or 5 %, depending on the vehicle category, is permitted. A common understanding exists that the template of the CoC Certificate must be the same in all Member States. It has to include all what is necessary for the needs of the Member States. As a consequence, the use of Entry 50. Remarks should be restricted to a limited number of items, such as optional wheels (or wheels/tyres combination) in the case of passenger cars. No items proposed by Poland were supported by a majority of the Member States. 14

15 Conclusions about table in Entry 47 There is some benefit for registration authorities to use a national code combining some technical characteristics of a vehicle with a view to allocating a taxation regime. However, checks showed that pragmatic solutions have been implemented by national authorities. A general consensus amongst the representatives of the Member States exists to delete the table from the CoC certificate as it constitutes a burden for the manufacturer. The Commission is willing to revisit the issue of the identification of the variants and versions. Conclusions on masses in registration A majority of Member States have the intention to refer to Annex IV of Directive 97/27/EC with a view to calculating the maximum masses for use on their roads without it being requested that this information is made available by the vehicle manufacturer by means of the CoC certificate. Registration of most heavy duty vehicles can be facilitated when the manufacturer provides the necessary information on masses in registration. There is some benefit to add the necessary entries on the CoC certificate but it should not be mandated to complete them. Conclusions on a list of regulatory acts The type-approval process which is put in place in the new framework Directive does not differ substantially from the one which is in use in the majority of the Member States, the difference being that base vehicles provided with a national CoC certificate, if any, would be provided with an EC CoC certificate under Community law. There exists no sound reason why the process should be modified because of referring to Community legislation instead of referring to national law. It is not the belief of the Commission that the template of the CoC certificate has to be reviewed as to add a list of regulatory acts. In the case of incomplete vehicles, the number of entries on the CoC certificate cannot be reduced at this stage. 15