Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-30-Speech-3-209"
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"en.20010530.12.3-209"2
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".
Mr President, I would firstly like to congratulate Mrs Hedkvist Petersen very sincerely on the report she has presented. It demonstrates her personal sensitivity, and that of the whole committee, to an issue as important as road safety, in an attempt to reduce this unacceptable figure of 42 000 deaths per year, which is the number of people killed as a result of traffic accidents in the European Union. As she says in her report, this figure is too high.
In December 2000, the Commission adopted a proposal making the use of safety belts provided for that purpose compulsory for all road-vehicle users and, in the case of small children, child restraint systems in cars. I must say, ladies and gentlemen, that if you visit any retailer you will see that practically all child restraint systems currently on the market already comply with the legislation in force. The proposed directive therefore eliminates the exceptions which appeared in the original directive, since they were conceived of in different circumstances and allowed the use of adult safety belts in the absence of a child restraint system. We now believe that to be unnecessary.
The proposed directive, as well as protecting children in cars, will help to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries resulting from accidents in coaches, minibuses and lorries, by making the use of safety belts compulsory for drivers and passengers when those safety belts are supplied. The correct use of safety belts and child restraint systems is one of the most important measures being proposed by the Commission in the field of road safety.
Both you in Parliament and the Council have supported this proposal by firmly backing the Commission’s working programme on road safety priorities in the Union, which include reporting on, detailing and classifying the measures to be adopted, making the use of safety belts and child restraint systems one of the fundamental priorities for road safety.
Ladies and gentlemen, I will now refer to specific amendments. Only one, Amendment No 4, is unacceptable to the Commission. Our reason for not accepting it is that it would require manufacturers of vehicles to indicate which child restraint systems are suitable for their vehicles and can be easily installed in them. While the Commission acknowledges that there have been problems with installing some systems in certain vehicles, the fact is that the amendment would breach the rules on the internal market and establishment as well as the directive proposed in the latest international standard on child restraint systems.
Nevertheless, non-legislative measures are being adopted, particularly by means of the Euro-NCAP programme, with which, as you know, car manufactures are associated, to persuade those manufacturers to indicate which restraint systems are suitable for their vehicles. I imagine that this initiative will reduce the problem, together with the fact that the restraint systems governed by Regulation 44/03 are easier to install and safer than the systems previously available.
Lastly, there are two amendments which would force the Commission to adopt measures which it has already planned to take. One is Amendment No 1, which would oblige the Commission to launch an awareness-raising campaign in parallel with the implementation of the directive. Amendment No 6(2), according to which the Commission should, in conjunction with the car industry, study the possibilities of using more user-friendly airbags, especially where rear-facing restraint systems are being used. The Commission would suggest that these two amendments do not appear in the legislative text, but that they be included in the preamble, since we accept that they are of interest and importance for the future.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have summed up the Commission’s position in relation to the report. I repeat that, with the exception of Amendment No 4, which we must reject, we accept all the others, bearing in mind the comments I have made on Amendment No 1 and Amendment No 6(2), which instead of appearing in the legislative articles, would simply appear in the preamble to the final text.
Thank you very much. It only remains for me to congratulate the rapporteur, Mrs Hedkvist Petersen, once again, and also Mrs Schierhuber, for her speech, and to express my agreement with her. We will now have to see how the different Member States apply the legislation we are approving here. Precisely for this reason, and not only on this specific issue, but taking account of all the requirements of road safety, we are going to make a proposal on which we are working with Commissioner Vitorino to try to harmonise the effective application by the different Member States of the controls and also the penalties in this field."@en1
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