The new rules presented by the European Commission has as main objective to save more than 1,200 lives a year and to avoid more than 36,000 traffic accidents linked to technical failure. For this, the Commission proposes to set common EU wide minimum standards for vehicle checks, with Member States free to go further if appropriate.

The European Commission adopted a proposal to toughen up the the testing regime for vehicles and widen its scope. Existing EU rules on vehicle checks date from 1977, they set minimum standards for vehicle checks and have only been marginally updated since. In addition the main problem is, according to the Commission, that there are simply too many vehicles with technical defects on the road. Recent studies from the UK and Germany indicate that up to 10% of cars at any point in time have a defect that would cause them to fail the tests. Moreover, many technical defects with serious implications for safety (such as ABS and Electronic Stability Control) are not even checked under current rules. In order to improve the safety, MEPs recently adopted a report which says that smart tachographs connected to global navigation satellite systems should be compulsory.

In order to avoid this, the new proposals include compulsory EU wide testing for scooters and motorbikes, and increasing the frequency of periodic roadworthiness tests for old vehicles. In addition, it proposes to increase the frequency of tests for cars and vans with exceptionally high mileage, and to improve the quality of vehicle tests by setting common minimum standards for deficiencies, equipment and inspectors. The proposal also include making electronic safety components subject to mandatory testing, and clamping down on mileage fraud, with registered mileage readings.

The Commission highlights that the revision of the current rules is necessary because existing EU rules on vehicle checks date from 1977, they set minimum standards for vehicle checks and have only been marginally updated since. Also, technical defects contribute heavily to accidents. They are responsible for 6% of all car accidents, translating into 2,000 fatalities and many more injuries yearly. 8 % of all motorcycle accidents are linked to technical defects.