The European Commission wants more frequent checks (ITP)

The European Commission wants to update the rules on road safety and registration of cars and proposes stricter technical inspections (ITP).

For better road safety and air quality throughout the EU, the Commission proposes a comprehensive review of EU road safety and registration of vehicles.

The new rules will take into account the increasing presence of electric vehicles and will adapt to emerging technologies. They will introduce increased inspections, including periodic technical inspections for electric vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems, annual inspections for older cars and vehicles and advanced emission test methods for detecting high emission vehicles, in order to reduce pollution with fine particles. In addition, the Commission proposes the introduction of digital vehicle registration certificates and periodic testing, simplifying cross -border data exchange and protecting citizens against fraudulent activities. Also, periodic technical inspections will be facilitated for those who live temporarily in another EU country.

To this end, the Commission proposes the revision of three directives: regarding the periodic technical inspection (ITP) of the vehicles, the documents for registration of vehicles and the road inspection (IR) of commercial vehicles.

The proposal concerns unsafe vehicles, which contribute to accidents, deaths and bodily harm. The current norms, last updated in 2014, must keep up with the technological progress, such as the driver assistance systems and the increasing presence of electric vehicles on roads. In addition, extremely polluting and noisy vehicles, although relatively few in number, are responsible for a disproportionate part of harmful emissions. Current rules do not sufficiently address air pollution and noise.

The proposed measures include the following

Adaptation of testing to new vehicles: periodic technical inspections for electric vehicles and new tests for electronic safety systems, including testing the integrity of the software relevant and emissions.
New emission tests: Detection of high emission vehicles, including modified ones, using advanced methods for ultrafine and NOX particles.

Fighting of fraud: recording the readings of the kilometer in the national databases for the cross -border exchange of the history of the kilometer.

Annual inspections: for cars and vehicles over ten years old.

Digitalization: issuing electronic vehicle registration certificates and periodic testing and data exchange through a common platform for simplifying administrative processes.

Mutual recognition of periodic technical inspection certificates: ensuring the cross-border recognition of periodic technical inspections carried out in another Member State for cars for six months.

Improve of data governance: simplifying access to the technical data of vehicles for testing centers.

Next steps

The proposals will now be examined by the European Parliament and the Council in the ordinary legislative procedure.

Once agreed, the Commission will prepare the delegated documents and the implementation documents necessary for certain aspects of the implementation of the rules.