MEPs have backed the start of talks with EU governments on updating rules for periodic roadworthiness tests and roadside inspections for vehicles, after a vote in the European Parliament.
The Parliament approved opening negotiations with the Council by 369 votes to 126, with 84 abstentions, the parliamentary press service informed on Thursday.
MEPs supported giving drivers more ways to have a car checked, but rejected proposals to shorten technical inspection intervals for cars and vans older than 10 years from every two years to every year.
They also backed new measures targeting odometer fraud in the second-hand market, including requiring repair garages to record odometer readings and manufacturers to enter readings from connected vehicles into a national database.
The garage requirement would apply only when a repair takes more than one hour.
Emissions checks in roadside inspections
MEPs agreed that roadside inspections should screen cars, motorcycles, vans, lorries and buses for polluting emissions and require vehicles flagged as potentially high-emitting to undergo further technical inspections, the Parliament said.
Jens Gieseke, a German MEP from the EPP group, will lead Parliament’s negotiating team in the talks with the Council.
The proposals form part of a wider “roadworthiness package” presented by the European Commission last year to update minimum standards for vehicle inspections, registration documents and roadside checks.
