News: Yesterday, many eyes from the bicycle industry were directed towards Brussels. It was about the decision of the European Parliament regarding liability insurance for pedelecs (up to 25 km/h). But now everything should stay the way it is.
Yesterday in Brussels, the European Parliament from the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection spoke out against compulsory insurance being imposed on pedelecs (up to 25 km/h). To make the decision final, however, you still need the approval of the entire EU Parliament. According to expert assessments, however, this approval seems very likely.
Various lobby groups, including Verbund Service und Fahrrad (VSF) and the European Cyclist Federation (ECF), had been fighting against liability insurance for pedelecs for some time.
"The cow is off the ice! We are glad that a burden on the pedelec market through mandatory motor vehicle liability insurance can now probably be avoided. It is great to what extent our VSF members in Germany, Austria and Belgium have gotten involved in the last few days by writing to the MEPs en masse. The decision of the EU parliamentarians in the committee deserves respect because they had to weigh up the interests. With compulsory insurance, potential accident victims should be protected materially, which is understandable in principle. Now there are indications that the EU countries can develop individual solutions to this question - a good compromise" - Albert Herresthal, Managing Director of the VSF
According to its own statements, the VSF asked its members in Germany, Austria and Belgium to appeal to the members of the committee to have the compulsory insurance for pedelecs overturned.
“Some motor vehicles, such as electric bicycles and Segways, are smaller and therefore less likely to cause accidents or property damage than others. It would be disproportionate and not future-proof to include them within the scope of Directive 2009/103/EC as it would result in costly and excessive coverage of these vehicles. Such a situation would also undermine the uptake of these bikes and hamper innovation in the field of electric mobility. It is therefore necessary to limit the scope of Directive 2009/103/EC to those vehicles that are subject to an EU type-approval. However, it is important to allow Member States to determine at national level the appropriate level of protection for people who may be injured by non-EU type-approved vehicles. I therefore consider it necessary that the Member States be allowed to maintain or introduce new binding provisions to protect users of these other types of vehicles in order to protect or compensate potential victims from a traffic accident." - SPD MEP Kerstin Westphal on the VSF