Proposition 51K0710

Projet de loi reprimant la fraude relative au kilométrage des véhicules.

Summary ¶

(From the official documents)

La loi du 12 mars 2000 réprimant certaines fraudes relatives au kilométrage des véhicules présente un caractère dissuasif pour les fraudeurs potentiels.

Jusqu’à ce jour, cette loi n’a pas reçu plus d’exécution. Il résulte en effet de la pratique qu’une série de lacunes et d’incertitudes juridiques existent et que son application peut mener à des difficultés.

Dans le but de remédier à ces problèmes, le précédant gouvernement avait approuvé le 16 octobre 2002 un avant-projet qui, après l’avis du Conseil d’État, fut déposé à la Chambre le 9 avril 2003 ( Doc. Ch. 50/2462). Le projet de loi soumis au Conseil des Ministres reprend le projet 2462 déposé le 9 avril 2003 à la Chambre. Il tient compte des remarques émises par le Conseil d’État.

Outre une série de définitions, le projet contient des dispositions relatives à la manipulation du compteur kilométrique, à la vente de véhicules d’occasion, aux travaux exécutés à un véhicule et à l’enregistrement centralisé des données kilométriques.

Il est en outre prévu que l’acheteur ait la faculté de résoudre la vente, au cas où il aurait constaté une manipulation du compteur kilométrique. Des sanctions pénales sont prévues en cas d’infraction à une série de dispositions. En outre, compétence est donnée à la direction générale Contrôle et Médiation du Service Public fédéral Economie, P.M.E., Classes moyennes & Energie (avant l’Inspection économique) pour agir en cas d’infraction.

Le présent projet forme un tout cohérent, qui - une fois adopté - prouvera son efficacité et qui - tout comme c’est le cas aux Pays-Bas - fera descendre de manière drastique le nombre de cas de fraude. Certes, le caractère opérationnel de l’instance qui doit être garante du traitement des données kilométriques est cruciale. Dès que le projet aura été adopté, les arrêtés d’exécution seront rapidement préparés.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP MR Open Vld Vooruit Purple Ⅰ

Submission date

Jan. 20, 2004

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

fraud motor vehicle criminal law vehicle

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

Abstained from voting

N-VA FN VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 11, 2004 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, our committee discussed the bill concerning mileage fraud during its meetings of 10 and 17 February and 2 March 2004. The purpose of the bill is to prevent fraud through manipulation of kilometers, which, unfortunately, is very common in the sale of second-hand cars.

The draft recalls the provisions of a draft of the previous government, which, due to the dissolution of the Chambers, could no longer be completed. The design is both preventive and curative. It is intended to provide the buyer with protection against practices of misleading sellers that falsify kilometers and thereby unjustly raise the selling price.

As soon as the law comes into force, it will also sanitize the second-hand car market as the unfair commercial practices of these ill-fated sellers are stopped. The existing law of 12 March 2000 relating to the mileage level proved to be absolutely insufficient; hence this new proposal. In fact, it has been shown that in practice the instrument included in the current law, in particular the maintenance book, was lacking in too many vehicles, which left the current law dead letter.

Through the current draft law, all these problems are resolved as follows. Some definitions of the law are clearly tightened. In addition, the bill contains provisions relating to manipulation of the mileage level, the rules to be observed when selling second-hand vehicles, the indication of the mileage level on certain documents and the like. In addition, the law also provides for the establishment of an association that will be charged with the centralization and processing of mileage data. Completely new is that the services of the Economic Inspection will now be competent to act in this regard. We therefore hope that, like in the Netherlands, the number of cases of fraud will decrease drastically thanks to this central processing body.

The design presented to our committee describes a broad scope of application, namely all vehicles, passenger cars, minibuses, camper cars and light trucks. This is indeed a very large market since in 2002 almost 670,000 second-hand cars changed owners. It is even intended to later extend the bill via KB to the large market of second-hand motorcycles.

In the design, there is a general prohibition to struggle with the mileage level and this applies, of course, also when replacing or repairing the mileage meter. The seller of a vehicle already registered must draw up a sales document and is obliged to provide a car pass. The works on a vehicle are clearly defined in this law and it is intended that fraud would be effectively made impossible by the centralization of the registration of the mileage of vehicles. This would be done through an association.

During the discussion, a number of committee members emphasized the administrative burden and ⁇ the excess of regulation included in the original draft. Therefore, through amendments, a number of superfluous and superfluous documents were removed and eventually opted to no longer allow the maintenance book to function as a control tool, but to dedicate ourselves entirely to the highway.

The committee meeting also discussed the severity of the punishment. Now it is the case that the buyer who buys a vehicle to which it would be cut with the mileage level, on this basis can cancel the purchase. A number of committee members considered this a very extensive punishment, but after discussion it turned out to be absolutely necessary and important for combating the fraud.

A number of amendments were submitted, primarily aimed at reducing the administrative burden to a minimum and ensuring that some excess documents are no longer needed.

Dear colleagues, that was in general what our committee has dealt with. In the end, the discussion was closed with the vote. Nine committee members voted in favour of the draft and there were two abstentions.

We will support this bill. The basic idea of the design to combat mileage fraud is the Car-Pass or the central registration of vehicle mileage. This basic idea was then able to be incorporated by CD&V through amendments by colleague Ansoms and myself in the law of 12 March 2000. The previous government has never taken the necessary implementation decisions. The implementing decisions to be taken and not to be taken were mainly related to the recognition of an association that would be charged with the centralization and processing of mileage data. Other provisions of the law were also not easily applied. The law of 12 March 2000 was clearly a compromise law.

Minister Van den Bossche has resumed the thread and has chosen a new bill. The basic idea is the same as that introduced by CD&V in the law of 12 March 2000, namely the prohibition of fraud with the mileage of vehicles and the prevention of fraud by the central registration of the mileage of vehicles.

We had some problems with the original design which, in addition to the central registration of mileage levels, also provided for all kinds of additional obligations for the individuals, which we believe had no added value, of course on the condition that the central database would function properly. The minister was willing to consult between the majority and the opposition, between the minister and the opposition. In consultation, we were able to simplify this draft with a number of amendments.

There will also be important implementation decisions needed to make the law operational. We dare to hope that this time these implementing decisions will come soon.

Mr. Speaker, I will really be very brief given that I join with what Mrs. Creyf has just said.

I would like to ask the Minister that, in the context of the implementation of this legislation, the enforcement orders effectively enable to ⁇ the objective of minimising as much as possible fraud in the kilometers of cars and of actually protecting the person who buys a car at the level of the accuracy of the kilometers indicated on the meter.

In this context, two execution orders are important and imperative but, as you recalled, Mrs. Minister, you intend to take them, and I have no reason not to believe you.

The first concerns the obligation, for any professional seller, to register on the invoice the number of kilometers at each invoice that is issued. The second provides, when a person buys from a private seller, that they can, through the Car-Pass, have the kilometre "pedigree" of the car.

It is these two enforcement orders that will protect the buyer and compel any car seller, whether professional or private - they are not exactly in the same situation but this mechanism allows to put them on an equal footing as stable as possible - to mention the exact number of kilometers to the counter.

It is these two enforcement orders that will enable us to ⁇ the goal we have all sought with this new legislation which, I repeat, aims to protect the buyer when buying a car at the mileage level, and to combat mileage fraud.

I would like to thank the rapporteur for her excellent report on this issue. It is a bill for which there will be widespread support. The illness of the fraud with the mileage level in the sale of second-hand cars should be combated as far as possible and, if possible, eliminated. In this sense, I can agree with the content of the design. I think that more than one million second-hand cars are sold in this country every year and that also around and at the 350,000 second-hand cars are sold from private to private. At this point, my colleagues, I have serious questions about a few articles of the draft law.

The first thought I have has nothing to do with it. I have questions regarding the content of Article 7. Article 7 states: "In spite of any conflicting clause and without prejudice to the application of Article 1116 of the Civil Code, any violation of the provisions of Articles 3 and 4 shall give rise to the dissolution of the sale, if the buyer so requests." Therefore, it is not a dissolution of the legal path. Is this not an unnecessary provision, since it comes in addition to the provisions of the Civil Code which allow the dissolution to be sought in the case of fraud, essential deficiencies and the like?

A second, more fundamental concern concerns the comments due to the professional federations, which we have all received, by letter and also again by e-mail. The trade federations say that the text compared to the government’s original draft is actually less conclusive and less solid. According to them, with the amendment of Article 4, § 1 and with the amendment of Article 5, the provisions have become less concluding. In fact, Article 4 now refers to: "in the sale of a registered vehicle by a craftsman to a private person or to another craftsman". Therefore, it is not the hypothesis of selling from private to private. Paragraph 2 then speaks about the obligation for the tradesman to make a purchase barrier when a private person sells a car to that tradesman. All trade federations propose to amend that text and replace it with the original text, which reads: "In the case of the sale of a registered vehicle, the seller must draw up a document confirming the sale and indicating the following details..." One no longer speaks only of the relationship when selling by a craftsman or a private or by a craftsman to another craftsman. I think the attached arguments of the trade federations are indeed correct. I myself have a professional life as a lawyer behind me and know that there are enormous many so-called sales from private to private, which are in fact disguised sales in which a craftsman acts. In this case, I fear that the design is no longer conclusive and if I can believe the trade federations, it is about 340,000 second-hand vehicles annually. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I will again submit the amendment proposed by the professional federations.

At the end of Article 5, I also refer to the amendment proposed by the federations. I think this is a much more concise formulation for Article 5, because now the draft proposed says: "If the King determines it, every craftsman who makes an invoice or any other document in connection with work on a vehicle shall indicate the chassis number of the vehicle and the mileage...

Mr. Bourgeois, can I let you interrupt? If your sense is over, Mrs. Creyf will interrupt you.

Mr. Speaker, ⁇ somewhat anticipating, I understood from the report that it is intended to come up with a simplification, fewer rules and more like that. Either they fight fraud, or they do not. This should be done as closely as possible.

I quote the wording of the professional federations: "Every craftsman who, following work on a vehicle, makes a invoice or any other document, shall indicate therein the chassis number of the vehicle and the mileage status indicated by the kilometre meter at the time of execution of the works." In fact, they assume that a professional in accordance with Royal Decree no. 1 of the VAT is obliged to draw up and deliver an invoice for all repairs for an amount greater than 125 euros. Why not impose the obligation that those craftsmen — who get the car in, who register it, who know the car at that time and have the chassis number in their stock — compile the mileage and indicate it on the invoice. That is a small thing. I think the wishes that emanate from the professional federations are quite right, precisely because they know how it happens in this little world. If they say that about 350,000 cars are taken from hand to hand every year, I think they know what they want to fight. I will still submit these amendments.

I would like to point out that the purpose of the amendment was, in fact, to reduce to a minimum the administrative burden on the private. If the Car-Pass works properly — which is what we assume — there is a permanent record of the mileage level. Then any third party who buys a car from a private person can request the mileage level through this central registration.

In addition — you know that too —, at the moment there is a sale from private to private one must always go to the car inspection and a document must be presented. Also there, the mileage level can be checked, via the Car-Pass or via the note applied on it. This is also stated in this bill.

We find that it makes no sense to ask the private person to keep all kinds of papers, invoices and the like, which he does not do. Not every private or individual seller or buyer of a car keeps up all possible bills from car maintenance and so on. What profit is it to impose all that in the law if one cannot control it and there is ultimately no added value? I would like to clarify that this is the basis for the amendments to move toward an administrative simplification. I personally would not like to see that all kinds of burdens are now again imposed on the private, which actually have no added value.

Mrs. Creyf, of course, I can understand your intentions, which I can endorse. We want as little administrative obligations as possible for everyone, but you know as well as I do that there is a — unfortunately — widespread practice in which individuals supposedly sell their car to another private, while it is de facto de garage holder who does. The private person who sells simply does not issue an invoice. As a result of procedures, it turns out that the seller does not even know his buyer. He said he sold his car, but he doesn’t even know the buyer. The burden of imposing administrative obligations is not too heavy. If that particular sells to a craftsman, that craftsman must, according to the law, set up a purchase barrier. The burden is shifted to the craftsman. If it is a private person, he must make an invoice. It is a small obligation to indicate the chassis number and mileage. I don’t think that this is a big burden because that invoice has to be drawn up.

If one sees that the urgent question of closing the law at this point comes from the professional groups themselves, then we must think about it. This would allow us to stop many misleading practices.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker. I would like to remind you that it was in 2000 that I and one of my colleagues, at the time Marceau Mairesse, had been able to obtain from this House the vote of a law that is somewhat the same as today or in any case that had the same spirit. This law, if I am not mistaken, had been lifted out of expiration in the Senate. This is how it can be said that, ultimately, there was no double debate - Chamber and Senate - around the initial bill. When Minister Picqué, who was your predecessor, Madame, in the same powers as you today, had taken over this law, we were delighted, even though we were saddened by the fact that never a decree of enforcement had been able to come into being.

First of all, I would like to thank you and, on my own behalf and on behalf of my whole group, congratulate you that you have taken over this dossier which, believe me, concerns far more people than you think.

Beyond the number of people involved – I will return to it – it must be repeated that the fraud rate is huge. The number of people who, in fact, resort to the acquisition of a used vehicle is growing, and many of these people doubt the honesty of the commercial approach they have thus carried out, whether elsewhere, it must be said here, in the 100% professional sector – the garagists – or in the private market. Falsification of kilometers is a fraud that is often found when selling used vehicles.

I would like to mention the figures on this tribune, that is important. They come from the INS. For 2002, it appears that out of 1,160,964 cars registered, 688,000 were actually used cars versus just over 470,000 new cars. And, since 2000, it is estimated that new car registrations have continued to decrease: 530,000 in 2000, 499,000 in 2001 and 472,000 in 2002. So, rather logically, the sale of used vehicles is constantly growing.

It had therefore become our duty to worry about this area, this organized fraud that could no longer leave us indifferent. This is why we have always been in favor of strict legislation, and therefore of better consumer protection. I will not repeat what I have already said, namely that I am pleased that the government has decided to close this matter.

We therefore believe that with your text, Madame and dear friends of the government, used vehicle buyers, often individuals, will benefit from increased protection against the practice of some dishonest sellers who trafficked vehicle kilometers. People will thus get to benefit from a vehicle with a price more in relation to the actual value of that vehicle.

We also believe that this law will heal the used vehicle market by ending unfair commercial practices among vehicle vendors themselves. by Mr. Bourgeois referred to the viewpoint of the Febiac or other organizations that contacted us. In my opinion, it is important to tell these organizations that such a bill will also have the advantage of streamlining the rules of competition, the rules of the market between merchants and garage owners. In any case, I am intimately convinced.

Mr Fournaux, you are definitely right. I truly think that all bonafide traders have an interest in this type of legislation to eliminate disloyal competition, fraud, fraud, and so on. They only expressed their concern about the fact that there are many competitors who act as intermediaries, who are in fact the seller of the car, but who ensure that they do not appear on any document. In this way, they organize a sale from private to private. With the amendment, they fall outside the scope of the law. I think you are right with your criticism.

I can understand the concern to create as little administrative burden as possible, but one must make a balance: anti-fraud or a small, additional obligation to indicate the chassis number and mileage status on a document that needs to be drawn up anyway.

Mr. Bourgeois, I have heard you very well, very well understood you, and I will answer you at the end of my speech. You will answer at the end of my intervention, because this is inscribed further in the logic of my intervention.

It should be noted that, in other countries, a legislation such as the government proposes exists. This is ⁇ the case in the Netherlands. Similar legislation has been in place for almost ten years and it can be seen that the implementation of this bill has resulted in a decrease in the level of fraud by more than half, and this in just a few years. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the work of the members of the Economic Committee who amended the text with the concern not to overweight the bill and to work towards some administrative simplification. I personally consider it beneficial to leave the King the choice of whether the professionals should mention the chassis number and the kilometers of the vehicle displayed on the invoice or any other document, on the occasion of the works performed, as I also find it interesting to simplify the formalities to be completed when a particular is the seller of the vehicle.

Regarding this latter point, Febiac warned us that we risk emptying the bill of its substance by removing the obligation to draw up a document constituting the sale of a vehicle, when the seller is a private individual. In this regard, I would like to respond to you, Mr. Bourgeois, as well as to the other members of the Chamber whom the mail of the Febiac might have appealed. I would like to give myself a more personal point of view. I also see that the government’s attitude goes in the same direction. When the initiators of the first bill, which I was with Mr. Mairesse, they deposited this text, they did not want to regulate everything, organize everything. We didn’t want every owner of a vehicle to be, at the limit, obliged to reserve in his living room an entire closet of documents that he would patiently collect over the entire history of his vehicle. At the limit, we even accept that a particular may sell a vehicle to another particular without having to rewrite the entire history.

What we wanted was to help the garage sales sector, the small and medium-sized enterprises represented by these garage owners, to establish a relationship of greater trust, first between them, then between them and potential car buyers. Thus, when resellers carry out an acquisition or sale of a used vehicle, they are in some way compelled to have this honest relationship with the customer, the buyer or another garagist. Everyone knows that in the used vehicle market, vehicles often move from one garage to another.

What we propose in this case is that the buyer citizen has the choice to give his trust. Through a law, we want to advise the citizen who would wish to purchase a used vehicle with full confidence, both in terms of the future of the vehicle and its history, to acquire it rather from a licensed person and who works consciously with it. This bill is closer to the creation of a state of mind, I would not dare to say liberal but almost, aiming not to impose everything on everyone but to establish a real climate of trust between a series of buyers and sellers, while revaluing the garage sector and independent garagists.

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Minister, I would rather speak to you from my bench, because the time to go from here to the speaker’s floor would be longer than the duration of my speech.

We support this draft law. We have been behind them in principle from the beginning. We were also in favour of a number of simplifications, such as limiting the obligations of unnecessary registrations.

Mrs. Minister, however, it was a little too fast in terms of the registration of the kilometers of the vehicle on purchase invoices and maintenance invoices. Therefore, we ask you whether you are prepared, in anticipation of the entry into force of the database we are waiting for, as a transitional measure — possibly by means of a royal decree — to require the registration of the mileage level on the invoices.

We need to take urgent action against kilometre fraud. It is the most widespread form of consumer fraud in our society. Studies by the VTB-VAB estimate that more than half a million vehicles are sold each year, which were cut with the kilometre meter and thus pay more for a vehicle than it actually is worth.

It is an old very. It is also about old ideas that are now being put into practice to adapt the existing 2000 law. However, that law did not receive implementing decisions, among other things, because they were difficult to enforce as the emphasis was too much on the maintenance book, an instrument that was increasingly less to be found in a car, even though it was mandatory. Effective action against fraud was immediately indispensable. Tel est l'objectif du projet qui vous est soumis aujourd'hui avec la création d'une banque de données: le Car-Pass.

We pursue a double goal: one, better consumer protection and, two, better protection of honest professionals against unfair practices by some of their colleagues. The sector itself, which was the applicant of this law, will gain in notoriety.

The members of the Economy Committee made some changes to the project to make the system as simple as possible and therefore to increase its efficiency.

I insist on the fact that the draft law was adopted unanimously by the members of the commission. You know pertinemment that certain modifications have triggered a reaction with certain professional organisations, but they do not, however, cause prejudice to the project of law. Let’s talk about removing the maintenance book. It is true that the maintenance book was mandatory, but nobody used it. You may not find it again in your car. Your garage manager doesn’t keep it up every time. Why keep the maintenance book if all the data in a central database is available? That was a very valuable comment from a colleague in the committee, after which the decision was made to no longer mandate the maintenance book.

I come to the second amendment. The original design required the indication of the number of kilometers on the invoice. First, an invoice is only mandatory from 150 euros to work on your car. You will not always receive an invoice. Secondly, who keeps those invoices constantly? Mrs. Creyf rightly says that in theory it could be a means of control, but in practice it is somewhat difficult.

Nevertheless, I understand the position and questions of the sector itself. It may therefore be desirable that in the initial period, the start-up phase of the database — a period in which there may still be a number of things that do not make it a closing system — I take the initiative through a KB to have the number of kilometers indicated on the invoice. Once the system runs well and it actually means an unnecessary administrative burden for garage owners and individuals, I think we should skip that.

The third problem raised by Mr. Bourgeois is the false individuals. I know that some people present themselves as Guido the bank servant who sells a car once in his life, while he is actually Jef the car dealer who is on the market every week with a different car. I know that there are things happening that are not correct, but we will not fix them with this law. We cannot solve those problems through a law that actually aims to combat mileage fraud by reversing the mileage counter. I think we should do something about it, but this cannot be done by provisions in this law. This should be treated and addressed separately. Moreover, the Civil Code already stipulates that for the sale from a certain amount — for the sale of cars that is almost always the case — such a contract is drawn up.

I think I only have to thank the committee for the very valuable changes made to the draft, and to thank the professional organisations for their initiatives in the creation of the law. I also count on them for the further implementation of the law and the establishment of that database. I can now promise that the implementation decisions will be made quickly.