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Daily news22 February 2024Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs1 min read

New mobile machinery rules to ease safe circulation on public roads across the EU

The European Commission welcomes the political agreement reached yesterday by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the road approval and market surveillance of non-road mobile machinery.

The new rules will facilitate the use of mobile machinery, including cranes, harvesters, forklifts, or snow cleaners, on public roads.

Today's political deal follows the Commission's proposal of 30 March 2023 and will consolidate the Single Market by replacing 27 sets of national legislation by a single, harmonised one. This will eliminate existing barriers to the free circulation of mobile machinery on public roads, while ensuring a high level of road safety. Furthermore, the new Regulation will reduce compliance and administrative burden, with cost savings estimated at up to €846 million over a period of 10 years.

Some of the key aspects included in the text of the regulation agreed yesterday are:

  • A harmonised regulatory framework for the road approval of mobile machinery, with a maximum design speed of 40 km/h, ensuring its free movement and facilitating intra-EU cross border use of such machinery.
  • Empowerment for the Commission to adopt detailed technical requirements, 12 months ahead of the regulation's entry into application.
  • Rules and procedures for the market surveillance of such mobile machinery in case of non-compliance.

The European Parliament and the Council will now have to formally adopt the political agreement. Once both co-legislators have green-lighted the new Regulation, it will enter into application 36 months after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.