The European Commission has launched an internet consultation to gauge reaction to the idea of a standardised EU MOT which might be far more demanding than the British one.  
 
They are also considering increasing the frequency of inspections and a requirement to have vehicles re-inspected if they have been modified since being tested or if the vehicle is sold.  
 
Road-side spot-checks specifically for motorcycles are also under consideration.
 
Harmonisation to the harshest test conditions currently found in any member state is an option being considered. Currently the most severe test regime is endured by Germany where riders face a far more stringent regime of testing and restriction than the UK enforces.
 
Nich Brown, General Secretary of MAG(UK), said
“The scope of this consultation confirms that the EU is contemplating a draconian and expensive burden on riders. All riders need to act now to challenge the potential excesses of yet another pan-European system that fails to meet the needs of individual nations.”
 
The questions in the on-line consultation form are pitched in a suspicious manner which suggests that its architects have assumed the merit of such an initiative. It is also worrying that the consultation is published only in English whereas most of the countries who currently have no MOT equivalent test and so will be most affected, are not English speaking. Worse still, only three weeks have been allowed for stakeholders to respond.
 
The worst scenario option which the questionnaire encourages participants to support, contradicts the claim by the EU that they wish to reduce the burdens on citizens.
 
Nich Brown added
“Since vehicle defects are implicated in less than1% of motorcycle crashes in Great Britain and many of that 1% are simply down to under-inflated tyres this whole plan has the look of an expensive red herring.”
 
MAG is encouraging riders to complete the survey and opt for the ‘no change’ to present system option.
 
The consultation runs until 24th September 2010 http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=r...worthiness                                                                                                                                                                               

Done                                                                                                                                                                             

more details here

  http://www.mag-uk.org/en/newsdetail/a6774

http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?page=rwt


                                                                                                                                                                             

i dont see the point of us getting involved in this. we already have to have MOT after 3 years then every year. i dont think the german one is any harsher than ours after reading up on the limited bumf available on the net (ours is 2nd most strict and some countries have non at all). im happy to have mine inspected regularly , i know you have to pay for it but surely its worth it. if they pass this i would imagine the standardised eu test would be less than what we have already so we will either stay the same or have MOT every 2 years instead of annualy. im not objecting to it so that the french wont have to have MOT done i think they should have them

Like you, I think all countries should have a regular test of some sort, but if testing becomes unified across Europe, it will become very easy for some faceless beureaucrat to start introducing ever tightening regs, such as emissions, noise, anti tampering etc etc etc   And, the UK always seems to fall over sticking rigidly to every new rule, while large chunks of Europe, nod in agreement, and do f*** all.                                                                                                                                                                             

hmm we will have to agree to disagree on that one m8. personaly i think once its unified it will be harder to start introducing tighter control because every biker in the eu will also be unified against it as it will affect us all. the french,greeks, portuguese etc wouldnt care if uk decided to make MOT every 6 months now because it doesnt affect them. im not saying anyone shouldnt complain about this standardisation im just saying i wont :)

Marsey,   Why is the title all in capitals with question marks for spaces?  It's  "MAG?PRESS?RELEASE"   ???   I'll change it.  All titles though should be in lowercase, and God-knows where the question marks came from lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Have not got a clue where the question marks came from Matt, that will teach me to try and post 5 mins before I am due to leave for work lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Already completed this  - But +1 for posting it mate                                                                                                                                                                              

I've compleated this too, Dunans it's not just a stadardisation of MOT's we are talking here it's a restriction of being able to put a differant silencer on without having a retest a towbar a retest a differant fairing a retest, building a chopper/trike selling bike/trike on re test! et al, pulling us over and treating us like we are kids with no individual rights! I aggree that some member states have NO M.O.T as such at the moment and it's just wrong they can come over their borders in those vehicals and cause mayhem! But these tests are supposed to also help reduce the accidents that are caused by defects (in actual fact only 1% of all motorcycle accidents are caused by defects and the bulk of those are down to incorrect inflation of tires!), so this like the test ctr debarcal needs to be quashed IMO it's just annother tax on biking brussels want to bring in and I say HANDS OFF MY FREEDOM, the French are deffinately not going to stand for a draconian standardisation. I for one could not afford a 2nd test a year and the tests themselves could be increased in costs anyway! I for one am happy to be stopped at anytime by the boys in blue or infact VOSA, this however is not a green flag for all bikes to be picked on as an "easy target" Harleys will not be able to have louder pipes neither will sports bikes if the mot includes Db meters too! (not that I condone excessively louder pipes anyway) but do you see where this could all lead too????   Think your ? marks came from typing the title in with your finger on the shift key to make the capitals??? When you were typing / instead!                                                                                                                                                                             

Come on peeps fill this out (if you don't and this is forced upon us you can't say well I did'nt know about this!), it's an opinion sheet if you feel strongly or indifferant your opinion counts!!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

Protect your rights folks, don't just think what can I do? Be pro active!!!!!!   Annother small point on any MOT it is not a g'tee that the bike may have not got a fault not covered by it. Even if you have a nice newly stamped mot in your pocket you could be stopped outside the ctr by a boy/girl in blue and they find your tire is illegal because you just ran over a bit of debris that has damaged it!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

Anyone who has ever added an accessory, or modified their bike, in any way, should be interested.   Type approval could so easily be the next step from a Euro wide testing scheme.                                                                                                                                                                             

Guess the Brits will just lie down as usual and take it on the chin, whilst moaning incessantly about it!   Smoking laws, allowing the most CCTV cameras in europe, etc, etc.                                                                                                                                                                             

I think the title MAG press release is not grabbing peeps attention!! Should read   Dirty burocrats are at it again??   Brussells flexing it's muscles?   Do not loose you right to ride your bike?   The biginning of the end?                                                                                                                                                                             

Anybody tried the link recently, all I can get is a network timeout.                                                                                                                                                                              

Yep me too. Are they getting too much negative results and pulled the plug? lol   I've rang Nich Brown to let him know that the link seams to be possably over loaded to the documents.   (it could affect the results so needs to be documented as a fact rather than just hearsay) So now we have a web page with times and facts on we can use this as a time referance point if required!                                                                                                                                                                             

Re tryide the link re posted under annother banner that link works and here it is!!   http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fec.europa....mp;h=8f1e4