IMMPORTANT ETRA proposals 2

[flecc]

changing EN15194 will make no difference to the legal requirement of the UK road traffic act. For the power of pedal assisted electric bike to be increased above 200 watts (note 200 watts not 250 watts) would need a change in the road traffic act. You are not going to have that happen in 12 months. Changing the EU safety standard does not trump the road traffic act.

That's not quite right, the e-bike legislation is British law, not UK law and it's the EAPC regulations, exempting legal e-bikes from many provisions of the Road Traffic Acts.

That British law on e-bikes is only in force due to a mistake by the civil service in 2002 when the EU regulation was compulsorily enacted here, when they forgot to cancel the British law in accordance with the EU ruling. Since then we've lived with both laws in force, but finishing the job properly is now in hand and the British EAPC regulation will be no more more when that happens, probably within a couple of years as time becomes available.

From then on we will be solely subject to EU law on e-bikes which will be pedelecs only and EN 15194 will fully apply to the whole of the EU.
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[dan]

You are mixing up a saftey standard with a use standard. The EU saftey standard is applicable to the build quality of an a electric bike offered for sale in any EU State. It took 8 years to agree, however as I stated before it does not overide the UK Road traffic act which has an exception for certain electric bikes from being classified as motorised vehicles and are classed in the same way as bicycles. Electric bikes that do not comply with the Road traffic act definition need to be registered as vehicles with the DVLA. To give you another couple of examples, a 50cc moped with a maximum speed of 30 MPH has an EU wide safety standard (type approval) however you can not ride one in the UK unless you have a license and are over 16, however in France you can ride the same moped without a license. The saftey standard is the same for both countries the road traffic acts are not the same. Cars sold in the EU all have the same saftey standard but in the UK the maximum speed is 70 miles an hour on a motorway, in Germany the have no speed restriction. To the best of my knowledge the Goverment has no intention of changing the road traffic act and cannot be forced to change it by the EU

 

[flecc]

No, I'm not confusing anything Dan, and I've said nothing about illegal bikes not having to be registered so I don't know why you've raised that. I'm fully aware of all the posssible implications of illegality.

The exemption for electric assist bikes in British law (Not UK law) is called the EAPC regulations (Electric Assist Pedal Cycles) and it is law which is due to be cancelled shortly as it should have been in 2003. (Sorry for the typo above where I put 2002)

The reason for that cancellation is the fact that the EU passed a law on electric assist pedal cycles which is mandatory in all EU states and that requires all member states to cancel their own legislation. In the case of Britain it most definitely would have amended our road traffic act if the civil service had done their job properly in 2003, but it will do so within a couple of years when they make up for their mistake, which in essence was disobedience of a lawful EU order. This is nothing whatsoever to do with the EU's safety standard EN 15194 which also applies to us and will therefore be fully effective here once we've corrected our mistake, as I commented above and which led you to believe I was confusing the two issues. Please note that as the EU regulation applies to the whole UK, while the EAPC exemption only applies to Britain, Northern Ireland has been in a state of limbo until the mess is cleared up.

Here's the relevant EU legislation which overrides our road traffic acts, and I've highlighted the most crucial part in bold. You may also be interested in the last sentence in brackets, showing that the EU legislation might already be overriding our road traffic act in fact.

The EU-Directive 2002/24/EC concerning the Type approval for two and three wheeled vehicles has been released by the European Parliament and the Council on March 18, 2002.

In Article1 (h) “cycles with pedal assistance which are equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of 0.25 kW, of which the output is progressively reduced and finally cut off as the vehicle reaches a speed of 25 km/h, or sooner, if the cyclist stops pedaling” are excluded from type approval.

Pedelecs which exceed the technical specifications must have a type approval and are classified as “mopeds”, and must consequently abide by all additional laws, i.e. motorcycle helmet, adequate brakes, mirrors etc.

The EU Directive 2002/24/EC comes into effect on
May 9, 2003 and will replace the current Directive
92/61/EEC.

Until May 9, 2003 the current national regulations concerning the status of pedelecs will remain unchanged.
After May 9, 2003, the EU Member States have the choice of either keeping their current regulations for another 6 months or changing over to the EU-directive.

By November 9, 2003 all Members of the EU are required to integrate this Directive into their national legislation and abolish their previous regulations. (My added note: it was passed into UK law on November 10th 2003, one day late, due to another civil service error)

Example:
In Great Britain pedelecs with a top speed of 15 mph (22.5 km/h) and 200 Watt motor are classified as bicycles. Pedelecs with a higher top speed or a stronger motor require a type approval.

No later than November 9, 2003, Great Britain must conform to the EU-directive: Pedelecs may have a 250 watt motor and be able to reach a top speed of 16 mph, and still be classified as a bicycle.

Download the Document
The directive 2002/24/EC is available to download at the Official Journal of the European Communities:

Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
The Netherlands
United Kingdom: Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales), and Northern Ireland.

New Member States since May 1, 2004:
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland
Slovakia
Slovenia


EU Directives and Regulations are applicable in all Member States. Where Regulations are directly applicable, Directives have to be implemented into national law. (However some provisions of Directives might have a “direct effect”, i.e. they are applicable even if the national legislator fails to implement the Directive in time.)