The obligation of technical control for all two-wheelers, which bristled user associations, will ultimately never be effective. The government repealed the decree of August 9, 2021 which put it in place, by a new decree published on Tuesday July 26 in the Official Journal. And the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, confirmed that France favors “other terms” to comply with the European directive which imposed this measure.
The 2021 decree introduced the obligation to carry out a technical inspection on all two-wheelers over 125 cm3 from the beginning of 2023. It applied a European directive of 2014 which required Member States to create this new technical inspection before January 1, 2022.
But the day after the publication of the decree, Emmanuel Macron had assured that it would never be applied. An adviser to the executive then let it be known that the Head of State believed that “it was not the time to bother the French”. HoweverAccompanied by environmental NGOs in May, the Council of State had demanded that the measure be put in place from October 2022.
“The European rule, according to the 2014 directive, does not impose a technical inspection in all circumstances” and “paves the way for alternative measures pursuing these same objectives”, assured Clément Beaune on Tuesday. According to the Ministry of Transport, France presented in Brussels “a set of measures” in this sense, including a reform of the motorcycle license, the improvement of infrastructure, the obligation to wear safety equipment and communication actions.
Clément Beaune spoke after a meeting with associations of bikers, who opposed technical control. The French Federation of Angry Bikers hailed a “victoire”.
On the other hand, the associations Respire, Ras le Scoot and Paris Sans Voiture have announced a new appeal before the Council of State. Their lawyer, Camille Mialot, denounced a decision “irresponsible, very costly in terms of hospitalizations and invalidity pensions, and totally contrary to the general interest”.