EU citizens who want to buy or sell a second-hand car in a member state other than their own are often faced with administrative problems or have to go through additional technical controls for their vehicles. In addition, car-rental companies cannot transfer cars from one member state to another without re-registration, which is especially annoying during holiday periods.
To eliminate these barriers to the single market, the European commission has undertaken major efforts by drafting a regulation to simplify the transfer of member state registered motor vehicles to other EU countries. Until now, legislation to coordinate the form and content of vehicle registration certificates existed only in the form of a directive. Other harmonisation measures - which are desirable with regard to the single market - have been put into explanatory rules, and thus only had a limited impact on the situation of a single EU member state.
"Car-rental companies cannot transfer cars from one member state to another without re-registration, which is especially annoying during holiday periods"
In the course of the legislative process, the European economic and social committee (EESC) was asked by parliament and the European council to provide its opinion on the draft regulation. The EESC opinion, for which I was rapporteur, was adopted unanimously at the EESC's plenary session in July 2012. In its opinion, the EESC strongly supported the commission's intention to use the instrument of a regulation to establish rules for the registration of motor vehicles in a member state which have already been registered in another EU country. This complies with both the subsidiarity principle and the requirements of a citizens' Europe. The EESC, however, was in favour of introducing a single uniform EU registration, valid in all member states, as initially envisaged. Indeed, for the EESC, uniform registration does not undermine the member states' revenue needs given that registration fees can be recovered within the system. At the same time, uniform registration would be more transparent and traceable.
The EESC expects that with this new regulation, registration of vehicles in an EU country other than the domestic one will be as simple as re-registration within the confines of the original member state. This also means that neither additional charges will apply, nor will unnecessary inspections or further documentation be needed. Unless information is incomplete or invalid, the member state may not require additional administrative, inefficient and costly procedures, such as roadworthiness tests. In addition, the costs of cross-border registration should not exceed the costs of domestic registration.
For the EESC especially, the fact that the transfer of motor vehicles regulation does not require ordinary citizens to provide data is a major achievement. As the competent authorities are required to exchange data it could also be expected that this will lead to further cooperation in other even more significant areas, and in that way will effectively support European values and common interests.
"The fact that the transfer of motor vehicles regulation does not require ordinary citizens to provide data is a major achievement"
The EESC also welcomed the €1.5bn of savings for individuals and companies, and acknowledged that the cost of the regulation will only have a minimal impact on the EU budget. At the same time the committee pointed out that, since the regulation will have to be paid out of national budgets, it would have made sense, in the interest of full clarity, to provide an estimate of the total cost.
The EESC recommended that the decision making institutions should consider allowing some or all of a client's initial registration costs to be taken into account when re-registering a vehicle, except in the case of re-registration due to a change of ownership. Finally, the EESC considers that the regulation should be reviewed every two years.
The European economic and social committee hopes that parliament will soon decide on this regulation, which will not only reduce unnecessary red tape but also contribute to the functioning of the single market.