Vehicles should be quieter but not silent

The newest trend among my friends is to invest some money into buying noise-cancelling headphones. You use them not only in public spaces where on the one hand you may want to block out noise made by traffic and strangers and on the other hand you could try to limit the noise you are making. No, you use them also at work, at home, to improve your concentration by eliminating any external noise. Surrounding yourself with silence seems to be a goal nowadays. In similar spirit, the European Parliament´s Environment Committee endorsed on Wednesday new proposals for regulating traffic noise in order to protect pedestrians´ health (noise made by standard cars would need to be limited from 74db to 68db in 12 years).  Consumers would be better informed as to the noise level their vehicles make due to an introduction of a new labeling system. Interestingly, the soundless electric and hybrid cars raise worries among the MEPs, since they are seen as potential threat to pedestrians who won’t expect their approach and therefore, a cause for more accidents. The proposal would be to add some acoustic to these vehicles in order to increase road safety. (Environment MEPs back law to turn down harmful traffic noise)  It seems then that the goal is to limit the noise but not to cancel it.

Additionally, on Tuesday MEPs and member states’ negotiators reached an informal deal regarding new rules on CO2 emissions that should be achieved by 2020 (95g/km as mandatory target applicable to 95% of new cars). (Car CO2 emissions: MEPs reach a deal with Lithuanian Presidency of the Council)

Back to the future vehicles

In January 2013 the European Commission proposed a new Directive pursuant to which the Member States would be required to set up a specific minimum of alternative fuels stations (electricity, hydrogen and natural gas) across the EU, with common standards. This would enable European consumers to easier choose for alternative fuels vehicles, since they would be assured they could use them with ease traveling in the EU. Currently, the problem is that not many refueling stations are built since not enough consumers purchase such vehicles, while consumers do not choose for these vehicles due to lack of support system. On Tuesday the European Parliament´s Transport Committee voted in these measures. The MEPs proposal strengthened Commission’s, e.g., by requiring that consumers were better informed about the different prices of fuels offered, so that they could easily compare them; that the colors of hoses and nuzzles were harmonized across the EU facilitating consumer use thereof; that electricity was made available at airports and that consumers could recharge electric vehicles during off-peak times, when prices are lower. The Commission criticizes, however, the lack of provisions on recharging points not accessible to the public, as potentially reducing the consumers’ confidence in the electric cars market. (Alternative fuels for transport: Parliament committee vote supportsroll-out of refueling infrastructure)

Taking rally cars around, anyone? - CJEU in Lundberg (C-317/12)

No need for you to install a tachograph, as long as it is your car that you're carrying and you're not doing that for a living. 

For those who, like me until this morning, have little idea
of what a tachograph looks like

That's in short what the Court of Justice decided today in the Lundberg case. Mr Lundberg, a Swedish national and amateur rally driver, was taking his rally car to a fair- by using an extra lorry attached to his normal car- when the police stopped him and issued a fine for violating article 3 of Regulation 3821/85 (now and hence Regulation 561/2006).

The provision at hand requires certain equipment to be installed on vehicles unless they belong to one of the categories listed by the same article. 

After a few passages, the question got to the CJEU by means of a preliminary ruling request. In particular, it was in doubt whether Mr Lundberg's situation could fall under letter h) of article 3, exempting "vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes used for the non-commercial carriage of goods". The main reason of doubt was that some companies and private persons contribute habitually and substantially to Mr Lundberg's activities by means of various sponsorships. Did this change the nature of the carrying activity into a "commercial" one?

According to the Court,  it does not. Interpreting the regulation both according to it literal meaning and to its aims, having regard to both the regulation's and the exception's functions, the Court affirms that carriage of goods has to be understood "non-commercial" every time that it is done solely for the purpose of a hobby, regardless of the extent to which the carriage is financially supported by sponsors. 

The purpose of Regulation 561/2006 is mainly "to improve social conditions for employees who are covered by it" (par. 25) and, by doing so, to make road transport safer. The derogation, on the other side, aims to exclude activities conducted "outside any professional and commercial activity" from the regulated domain. The latter's aim would be frustrated if cases like that of Mr Lundberg's were to be affected by the regulation; at the same time, the regulation's aims are not offended by applying the exemption (cases of this king being "infrequent"- par. 37-, applying the derogation seems unlikely to have serious consequences on road safety.).

Thus, just in case you were thinking of moving your rally car around Europe, rest assured- the Court is protecting you against sour (regulatory) surprises.

Calls from the road

BBC published last Friday an article 'Mobile phone drivers 'not linked' to accident figures'. While there are no EU measures on what the consequences for EU citizens could be of using a phone while driving, in most countries such multitasking is prohibited and various fines are set if a driver is caught in the act of calling/ texting etc unless hands-free devices are used. Researchers examined the impact of increased phone calls in the evening hours in the US to the amount of car crashes in these hours and did not discover a pattern that would suggest a correlation between these sets of data. The research did not account for texting or surfing the net on smartphones. (Driving under the (Cellular) Influence)

Travelling with our four-legged friends

The European Parliament approved a new regulation on the 'non-commercial transport' of pets last Thursday. The new legislation will change existing rules on pet passports and anti-rabies vaccination (that are mandatory for dogs, cats and ferrets) aiming at making it easier to travel with pets abroad, even if health requirements for pets remain quite strict. The passport would need to be issued by an authorised vet (like it is now) and specify the transponder code (if an animal has a clear tattoo, that's still valid, too), anti-rabies vaccination details and other information on pet's health. A young pet who had anti-rabies vaccinations but didn't get immunity yet would still be allowed to travel. (Parliament eases rules on cross-border pet travel) The regulation will still need to be adopted but with the consent of the Council and the Parliament it should not take too long.

On the road

As of today, EU Regulation No 181/2011 applies to bus and coach travellers across the EU. The Regulation is meant to complete an integrated area of passengers rights, providing passengers in Europe a high level of consumer protection independent of the means of travel. In line with existing rights for travelling by air, rail or boat, bus and coach travellers may now rely on the following passenger rights (as enumerated in the European Commission's press release):

• 'Non-discrimination based on nationality regarding tariffs and other contract conditions;non-discriminatory treatment for disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility. Specifically, free-of-charge assistance both at designated bus terminals and on board buses and coaches, as well as financial compensation for loss of or damage to their mobility equipment;
• adequate and accessible information for all passengers before and during their journey, as well as general information in bus terminals and on the internet about their rights;
• reimbursement of the full ticket price or rerouting in case of overbooking, cancellation or delay of more than 2 hours from the estimated time of departure (only applicable for journeys of more than 250 km distance);
• compensation of 50% of the ticket price in addition to the reimbursement of the full price in case of overbooking, cancellation or a delay of more than 2 hours from the estimated time of departure, when the bus and coach company fails to offer the passenger the right to choose between reimbursement and rerouting (only applicable for journeys of more than 250 km distance);
• adequate assistance (snacks, meals, refreshments, as well as, if necessary, accommodation) in case of cancellation or delay of more than 90 minutes for journeys longer than 3 hours (only applicable for journeys of more than 250 km distance);
• compensation for death, injury, loss or damage to luggage caused by road accidents;
• a complaint handling mechanism established by the bus and coach companies and available to all passengers;
• setting-up of independent bodies in each EU Member State with the mandate to enforce the regulation and, where appropriate, to impose penalties.'

Honk-honk

Another draft law that the European Parliament voted on last week concerned sound level of motor vehicles. The standard for cars would be lowered from 74db to 68db in the next 6-8 years (with some margin of error for more powerful vehicles, incl 81db for lorries). Additionally, the new cars should be labelled on their noise performance so that consumers were informed what type of vehicle they are purchasing (just like currently they can see the fuel efficiency or CO2 emissions' labels on cars). An idea was also brought up in the discussions on this new law that e-cars should have a sound added to it - so that pedestrians are in no danger of being silently run over. (Parliament backs law to tone down harmful traffic noise)

EU Licence to Drive

As of this week all European consumers that get a new driving license (or exchange the old one) will receive the same plastic "credit card" with a standard EU format. The harmonisation aims to limit driving license fraud and to improve road safety across the EU.

"Traffic police across Europe are currently expected to recognise more than 100 different types of paper and plastic driving licence. ID photos may be long out of date, the categories for which the driver is licenced unclear and the document may be easy to forge. Fake driving licences are a licence to kill, that is why we need licences which are easy to read, easy to understand and very difficult to falsify". (New European Driving Licence)

Driving home for Christmas?

We wrote here before about the plan of the European Commission to increase road safety for European citizens  by widening its scope (to motorcycles etc.) and toughening up the current testing regime (Better safe than sorry...). Unfortunately, yesterday the EU transport ministers agreed to weaken key elements of the Commission's proposal, effectively decreasing its relevance.

"The agreement by ministers today would substantially weaken the proposed new rules, by (a) removing motorcycles and other two-wheelers, the most vulnerable group of road users from the scope of mandatory regular testing; (b) removing proposals for increased frequency of technical checks for older vehicles – the highest risk vehicles on the road; (c) weakening proposed measures to reduce mileage manipulation. 

Ministers have backed measures with regard to two things: strengthened cross-border mutual recognition, and higher quality and harmonisation of testing, with minimum requirements on training, on equipment, on assessing deficiencies, on technical vehicle information and on supervision of testing."

The proposal will now be considered by the European Parliament.

New EC Video Campaigns

Granny goes roaming:



... and 100.000 lives saved:

Bon Voyage!

In this holiday period the European Commission has many travel-related issues on its agenda.

Yesterday, a public consultation was launched that aims at finding out what is the situation for victims of cross-border traffic accidents in the EU. It is estimated that at least 2% of all road accidents in the EU involve visitors from other EU countries. These can be tourists, cross-border workers or cross-border commuters. If a EU citizen is a victim of a car accident, he is likely to want to claim some compensation for his damages. Unfortunately, the EU law in this area is not harmonised, which means that there are different national rules for claiming such compensation. Especially problematic is the difference in time limits for making a claim which can range from 1 to 10 years (see Annex: Have a safe trip: Commission consults on how to help victims of road accidents abroad). These cut-off periods may contribute to making it difficult for the victims to claim compensation. The consultation will be open until 19 November and it is supposed to shed some light as to what future actions should the European Commission take. For example, it could harmonise limitation and prescription periods in the EU or it could just try to improve information given to victims of cross-border road accidents.

Additionally, the European Commission announced yesterday its approval for the Single European Sky Performance Scheme. The scheme contains national performance plans that are supposed to save billions of Euros for air passengers as well as airlines in years 2012-2014 by improving air navigation services. This would result in less delays, cheaper flights and reduction of environmental impact of air traffic. Currently, it is estimated that passengers ultimately pay between 6% and 10% of the airline's operating costs. The goal is to reduce user charges by ca. 2.4 billion Euros. (Commission approves national performance plans to reduce costs and...)