European Union drops motorcycle technical inspections – for five years! In a surprise move the EU Council representatives meeting in Brussels on 3 December decided to delete motorcycles and mopeds from the proposed new Directive on technical inspections. Written into the draft is a requirement to review the situation regarding mopeds and motorcycles in five years time. But, the EU member states have clearly stated that they don’t see the need for technical inspections of mopeds and motorcycles with the published draft. Commenting on the outcome FIM CEO Stéphane Desprez said: “This has been a controversial issue for many years. Some riders are used to technical inspections being part of the law as this has been done in many countries for a long time. Others have no tradition of this. It is further complicated by the fact that many enthusiasts own more than one motorcycle or scooter. If the testing is expensive this becomes a large bill every year if all the bikes are kept on the road. The research underpinning this proposal was conducted by one of the testing institutes, and is contradicted by other studies on accident figures due to technical failures. This explains why its conclusions were weakened when reviewed by the European member states. If and when the issue is discussed again in five years it will need more careful scrutiny.” The future directive will not affect the situation of countries that have this system at national level, – examples being the UK and Italy.