WRITTEN QUESTION No. 953/98 by Riitta MYLLER to the Commission. Slow-moving three-wheeled vehicles
18. 1. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 13/13 It is worth pointing out that Member States are primarily responsible for developing and implementing the programmes, and for project selection in particular. In the next programming period, the Member States will see their overall responsibility for programme implementation and monitoring explicitly enhanced in the regulations if Parliament and the Council adopt the thrust of the Commissionís proposal for greater decentralisation and simplification of the Funds. The proposed expanded partnership, which will include the economic and social actors, is also likely to help improve the management of operational programmes that include measures in favour of SMEs. The Commission will work to provide an appropriate follow-up to the Court of Auditorsí report and to supply the information needed to reply to the comments contained in it. Lastly, as requested by the Council in its resolution of 9 December 1996 (2), the Commission, as coordinator of the Communityís SME policies, has started to prepare a recommendation on the ways SME access to Community programmes can be improved. The recommendation will cover Community programmes with a significant impact on the development of SMEs, examples being the Structural Funds, research and innovation. (1) OJ C 354, 19. 11. 1998, p. 40. (2) OJ C 18, 17. 1. 1997. (1999/C 13/018) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0953/98 by Riitta Myller (PSE) to the Commission (30 March 1998) Subject: Slow-moving three-wheeled vehicles Under EU rules, slow-moving three-wheeled vehicles whose use on the road is permitted are classified as L2 vehicles. They are used mainly by the elderly and the disabled and have a maximum speed of 40 km/h. From a distance, and especially in the dark, such vehicles look like ordinary cars. However, as they travel more slowly than other traffic, it ought to be possible to warn other road-users more effectively to keep clear of them in order to avoid accidents. Could the appropriate member of the Commission say whether it would be possible for such three-wheelers to be designated as slow vehicles, so that they would have to bear a warning triangle alerting other road-users to their slowness? This would improve road safety in the interests both of drivers of the three-wheeled vehicles and of other road-users. Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (29 May 1998) Council Directive 92/61/EEC of 30 June 1992 on the type approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles (1) provides, in particular that light quadricycles having an unladen mass of less than 350 kg are considered to be three-wheel mopeds (vehicles having a (design) speed not exceeding 45 km/h and a cylinder capacity not exceeding 50 cm3). Therefore these light quadricycles, or ácabin scootersí are covered by the approval procedure for two or three- wheel motor vehicles and must therefore meet not only the requirements of the framework Directive referred to above, but also those of the various separate Directives deriving from the same framework Directive. However, the Community provisions in this area do not require ácabin scootersí to be fitted with a triangle in order to warn other road users of their lower speeds, thus leaving the Member States the option of regulating that safety aspect of the use of such vehicles. (1) OJ L 225, 10. 8. 1992