Regulation 2019/2144 - Type-approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers, and systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, as regards their general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 325/1

Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) lays down administrative provisions and technical requirements for the type-approval of all new vehicles, systems, components and separate technical units, with a view to ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market and in order to offer a high level of safety and environmental performance.

This Regulation is a regulatory act for the purposes of the EU type-approval procedure laid down by Regulation (EU) 2018/858. Therefore, Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2018/858 should be amended accordingly. The administrative provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/858, including the provisions on corrective measures and penalties, are fully applicable to this Regulation.

Over the past decades, developments in vehicle safety have contributed significantly to the overall reduction in the number of road fatalities and severe injuries. However, 25 300 people died on Union roads in 2017, a figure that has remained constant in the last four years. Moreover, 135 000 people are seriously injured in collisions every year (4). The Union should do its utmost to reduce or to eliminate accidents and injuries in road transport. In addition to safety measures to protect vehicle occupants, the implementation of specific measures to prevent fatalities and injuries of vulnerable road users, such as cyclists and pedestrians, is needed to protect road users outside of the vehicle. Without new initiatives on general road safety, the safety effects of the current approach will no longer be able to off-set the effects of increasing traffic volumes. Therefore, the safety performance of vehicles needs to be further improved as part of an integrated road safety approach and in order to protect vulnerable road users better.

Type-approval provisions should ensure that motor vehicle performance levels are assessed in a repeatable and reproducible manner. Therefore, the technical requirements in this Regulation only refer to pedestrians and cyclists, as only these presently exist as formally harmonised testing target subjects. Besides pedestrians and cyclists, vulnerable road users, in general, also include other non-motorised and motorised road users who might use personal mobility solutions without protective bodywork. Moreover, current technology creates a reasonable expectation that advanced systems...