Major Change Regarding Vehicle Technical Inspections: A REVOLUTIONARY INNOVATION Is Being Introduced

Cars

The European Commission has proposed important changes to the rules on periodic vehicle technical inspections, to take into account the growing number of electric cars, advanced driver assistance systems, and to reduce fraud related to odometer readings.

The new rules are expected to reduce harmful emissions, odometer fraud, and improve road safety.

The Commission has proposed a revision of three directives: on periodic vehicle technical inspections; on vehicle registration documents; and on roadside inspections of commercial vehicles.

The Commission proposes introducing mandatory annual technical inspections for cars and vans older than 10 years, instead of the current requirement of every two years. This obligation already exists in most Member States, but in 11 Member States, cars and vans over 10 years old are only inspected every two years.

In some Member States, mandatory annual inspections are carried out already after three or four years of the vehicle's age.

In order to reduce fraud related to the odometer readings, Member States will be required, according to the proposal, to establish national databases of odometer readings.

How to Combat Odometer Rollback Fraud?

Readings must be recorded at every vehicle servicing or repair, even for simple operations like bulb or tire replacement. Such databases already exist in Belgium (Car-Pass) and the Netherlands (Nationale Auto Pas, NAP), and they should now become mandatory in all Member States.

If a used car is sold to another Member State, the Member State from which it was exported will have to share the vehicle’s odometer history with the Member State where it is re-registered.

According to the current directive on periodic technical inspections, the mileage must be recorded at each inspection, and odometer manipulation is considered a criminal offense. However, the problem is that inspections are carried out only once a year, often every two years, and for new vehicles only after three or four years. A significant part of odometer fraud already occurs before the first inspection, as greater financial gains can be achieved by tampering with the odometer of relatively new vehicles.

Combating mileage fraud is important from a consumer protection perspective as well as for fair market competition in the vehicle trade. The proposal should contribute to reducing unauthorized interventions on odometers in both domestic and cross-border used car sales, which would especially benefit consumers in countries with a large number of used cars.

It is proposed to test emissions using advanced methods for ultrafine particles and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The current recommended threshold of 250,000 particles/cm³ would become the pass threshold for technical inspections.

Advanced Driver Assistance Functions on the Test

It is proposed that periodic technical inspections be adapted to examine electric vehicles and to include checks of advanced driver assistance features.

The proposal also includes digitizing technical inspection reports and introducing digital vehicle registration certificates, as well as interconnecting national vehicle registers and expanding the set of harmonized vehicle data in those registers, for example data about the country of first registration, registration status, and information on significant vehicle modifications.

Electronic vehicle roadworthiness certificates should become mandatory and gradually replace the paper versions.

The possibility of conducting a technical inspection in a different Member State where the vehicle is not registered is also foreseen. The certificate from such an inspection would be valid for up to six months, after which the next inspection must be carried out in the country where the vehicle is registered.

The proposals will now be considered by the European Parliament and the Council as part of the regular legislative procedure. It is now up to the legislative bodies—the Council and Parliament—to decide on the proposals. Once an agreement is reached, the Commission will prepare the necessary delegated and implementing acts for certain aspects of the new rules’ implementation.