2023-06-02 12:07:29
The saga of technical control of two-wheelers continues. Decrees, repeals, legal action… The twists and turns have been multiplying for more than two years. The last dates from this Thursday, June 1: the Council of State has given the government two months to take the decree setting up the control.
The story begins in 2014 when the European Commission imposes a technical inspection in all countries of the European Union, wishing it to be implemented by January 2022 at the latest for two-wheelers over 125 cm3.
Decree upon decree
When the project is considered in France, the anger of bikers is immediate. Several mobilizations are organized, the demonstrators asking the state to derogate from the European rule. Finally, in August 2021, France decided to transpose the European text.
A decree is published providing for the start of technical inspection in January 2023 (i.e. one year later than what the EU had planned) for vehicles registered before 2016, and again after for the others. But a twist. The next day, at the request of Emmanuel Macron, the government indicated that it would not apply it, because “this is not the time to bother the French”. A new decree is then published to suspend the one published the day before.
The Respire, Ras le Scoot and Paris Sans Car associations immediately seized the Council of State to demand the application of the European directive as soon as possible. These NGOs for the defense of the environment or the fight against nuisance from two-wheelers denounce a harmful decline for air quality but also for noise pollution and safety: motorized two-wheelers represent 2% of traffic but 20% of road fatalities. In May 2022, the highest administrative court in the country agreed with them, ordering the executive to apply it from October 2022.
Rebound
Despite this, the government repeals the implementation of technical control. He ensures that he will instead introduce other measures intended to reduce road safety linked to motorized two-wheelers such as the obligation to wear safety equipment, awareness campaigns, a reform of the driving license or further improvement of infrastructure.
The environmental associations then urgently lodged an appeal for abuse of power in the hope that justice would cancel the decree repealing the technical control.
A new twist came when the Council of State ruled in favor of the associations which contested the decrees issued in August 2021 allowing the entry into force of the compulsory technical inspection to be postponed.
« Take action »
A few months later, at the end of October 2022, the highest administrative court asked the government to reinstate the technical control of two-wheelers. According to the decision, the abolition of the technical control should have been subject to public consultation “taking into account its direct and significant impact on the environment”.
Furthermore, the Conseil d’État considers that the measures since proposed by the government to derogate from the European obligation of technical inspection “do not comply” to European requirements “because they are only at the draft stage or because they do not allow a sufficiently effective and significant improvement in the safety of motorcyclists on the road”.
The Ministry of Transport then declared « take action » of this decision, specifying that the control would not, however, come into force immediately because it would be preceded by a « consultation ». In the absence of progress, the Council of State gave the government two months on Thursday to take the decree setting up the technical control.
For motorists, technical control was introduced in 1992, already lagging behind other European countries, but without triggering such opposition from the users concerned.
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