Briefing: The Automotive Omnibus proposal and the new vehicle subcategory for small electric cars (M1E)

This ETSC briefing examines the European Commission’s proposed “Automotive Omnibus” package and its plan to create a new subcategory of small electric passenger cars (M1E). The proposal would effectively freeze EU vehicle safety requirements for these vehicles for up to ten years. ETSC warns that locking in outdated safety standards risks creating a two-tier safety system on European roads, particularly in urban environments where pedestrians and cyclists account for a large share of road deaths. The briefing explains the safety implications of the proposal, outlines concerns about exemptions for electric vans and potential delays to lorry direct vision standards, and sets out ETSC recommendations for maintaining strong and forward-looking EU vehicle safety rules.

ETSC Position Paper on the End-of-Series

A separate briefing on “end-of-series” can be found as a separate document below the “Automotive Omnibus” briefing. Several Members of the European Parliament have submitted amendments proposing to delete Article 49 on ‘end-of-series’ vehicles and amend Article 48 so that a vehicle could be sold, registered or entered into service on the basis of the rules that applied on the date it was built, even if its type-approval has since expired.

In short, these proposed amendments would create a loophole that would incentivise manufacturers to produce and stockpile vehicles before new safety (and environmental) requirements start applying, as after their type-approval expires manufacturers would still be allowed to sell those by then no-longer-complying vehicles without any limits on volume or time and without Member State approval – which all three are safeguards in place in the current end-of-series scheme that provides manufacturers with an opportunity to still sell left-over vehicles.

Widespread use of this loophole would slow the uptake of safety and environmental improvements across the EU fleet, distort competition between manufacturers, and place the framework Regulation in conflict with other EU law. In road safety, delay has a measurable cost. Safety technologies only prevent deaths and injuries once they are fitted to vehicles on the road, so every additional non-compliant vehicle that displaces a compliant one postpones those benefits. ETSC therefore calls on Members of the European Parliament to vote against amendments 37, 135, 136, 137 and 138.