Proposition 51K1085

Proposition de résolution relative à l'établissement de normes de qualité et de sécurité obligatoires pour les vélos et leurs éléments.

General information ¶

Author

Open Vld Guido De Padt

Submission date

May 3, 2004

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

resolution of parliament two-wheeled vehicle product safety road safety

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR FN VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Feb. 1, 2007 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, I will briefly report on two draft resolutions, which were discussed jointly at the committee meeting of 17 January 2007.

The two main insiders first explained their resolution.

First, Mr De Padt, who pointed out that currently only two bicycle parts, namely the retroflectors and the retroflective tires, are subject to technical requirements, while there are additional problems and therefore there is also need for additional quality and safety standards for bicycles and bicycle parts.

In a second element of his resolution, he called for the implementation of regulation at European level.

Mr Casaer pointed out in his explanation to the proposal of the sp.a. colleagues that a large number of bicycles are sold and that certain parts are quickly broken due to poor quality, resulting in the necessary insecurity.

His proposal for a resolution is largely parallel to Mr De Padt’s proposal, following two points, which are a supplementary addition. First, in anticipation of harsh standardization, he proposes a deontological code for bicycle manufacturers and bicycle dealers. Second, there must be a road safety test before certain products are marketed in our country.

As regards the procedure, the committee unanimously decided to take Mr De Padt’s proposal as the basis for the discussion, adding the two additional elements of Mr Casaer’s resolution.

During the discussion, all the present groups agreed at least to the principle that there should be a quality standard for bicycles and bicycle parts. However, a number of comments were made.

On behalf of our group, I asked myself a number of questions about congruence with other European Member States. It was pointed out that the goal of good standardization was already included in the Total Plan Bicycles of about three years ago. Therefore, the government is already bound by the implementation of the recommendation. There is also a problem, when the deontological code should be applied in the supermarkets.

Ms. Vautmans also referred to the deontological code. She also pointed out that there is a risk that entrepreneurship may be hindered by the additional administrative burden.

Mr. Casaer replicated that the deontological code should not be imposed by the government but could be organized by the sector itself, resulting in a label of “good bike seller”.

Mr De Padt proposed to explicitly add to the resolution that it would be a deontological code of the sector itself and that it would not be imposed by the government.

The above discussion resulted in an additional amendment, which extended the scope of the deontological code. It would not only apply to bicycle manufacturers and bicycle dealers, but to everyone who manufactures or sells bicycles and bicycle parts. Second, the amendment contains the explicit mention that the code is not drafted by the government, but by the sector itself.

Minister Landuyt stressed that he supports the objectives, which eventually resulted in the unanimous and unanimous adoption of the draft resolution by our committee.

Mr De Padt, you have the word on the resolution, which is in your hand and of other colleagues.

Today, you can buy a bicycle everywhere at an increasingly low price. In any grocery store or toy store, for an apple and an egg, one can buy a bicycle that appears to be flawed at first sight.

Since those bicycles sold do not have to meet any technical requirements, except that they must be equipped with reflectors and reflective tires, traders may sell bicycles that endanger the safety of the cyclist. That this is the case is evidenced, among other things, from the findings of the Fietsersbond and also from a number of findings of Test-Akkup, which have conducted studies in this regard.

As weak road users, cyclists are too often victims of accidents. The government is rightly trying to do something about this by means of various measures, such as the dead-angle mirror or the bike helmet. All this helps to increase the safety of the cyclist. However, the quality of the vehicle itself, of the bike, has so far been hardly looked at.

However, there is a demand and need for certain standards. Organizations such as the Cyclists’ Federation, I’ve already said, have conducted studies showing that some sold bikes have hidden defects, such as dynamoes that slip in rainy weather or lamps that jump around the oat cloth. All this puts the visibility and thus also the safety of the cyclist at risk.

Even worse is the situation with bicycles for children and young people. Some children's bikes have brakes that are not even adapted to small children's hands. Children are sent to the busy traffic with bicycles of which they cannot use the brakes, with the result that they cannot stop their bicycle in case of emergency. Colleagues, you can imagine the dangers it brings to the children.

The striking thing is that in Belgian legislation, however, technical regulations are included for bicycles, motorcycles and cars, but not for bicycles. However, a registered Belgian standard, which I will name for a moment, NBN DIN 79100_2 could provide a good basis for the technical regulations for bicycles. The norm, or part of it, should therefore, of course, have a mandatory character.

The resolution therefore fits perfectly with the government’s objectives to further promote the use of bicycles. It’s nice to build cycling paths, but when you let off cyclists who can’t stop or who have poor lighting, the new cycling paths are useless. Therefore, we insist that quality and safety standards for bicycles become mandatory in the future.

When issuing this standard, some caution is also required. There are currently no directives in the European Union regarding the quality and safety standards for bicycles. An exclusive Belgian rule could be interpreted by some as covering the Belgian market. Therefore, we would like to ask the federal government to urge the other European Member States to draw up a European directive.

In anticipation of such a directive, the producers concerned are already invited to work on a deontological code that anyone involved in the manufacture and sale of bicycles can follow.

To prevent this from damaging entrepreneurship in the sector, it is of great importance for us that the sector itself, and ⁇ not the government, draw up this code with a minimum of administrative formalities.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, I will be brief as both sympathetic colleagues have already said a lot and I do not want to fall into repetition.

First and foremost, I would like to thank the rapporteur for his comprehensive and well-founded report and colleague De Padt for the interesting interaction and discussion we have had in the committee.

As both colleagues have already said, accidents with cyclists are still frequent. Sometimes they are due to the carelessness of the cyclist himself or other road users, sometimes to the not so good infrastructure. Unfortunately, accidents also occur due to insufficient or poorly functioning bike parts, such as the bike lighting. We have all, especially at this time of the year, already noticed young people in the morning cycling to school with poor or defective lighting.

One quickly buys a replacement item in a supermarket or store, which, however, does not prove to work or is already broken after a week. With this resolution, we want to put an end to such practices. We are therefore responding to a previously asked question from the Bicycle Association and Test-Akkup. Bicycle consumers are also consumers.

Europe is busy with a lot of things, and it is time for a minimum of standardisation in this sector as well. In anticipation of a European regulation, we believe that the Belgian government can already take a number of initiatives. Before products are allowed to be distributed and sold on the Belgian market, a number of tests can already be done to eliminate the biggest defects or the worst products.

Our group has always considered the quality of bicycles important. Collega Dirk Claes has already several times questioned the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Ms. Van den Bossche, on this subject and urged her to carry out certain controls.

This proposal, this idea of quality control, was already included in a plan of the federal government, then on the initiative of Minister Anciaux, the competent minister in the spring of 2004, in particular in the Total Plan Bicycles, which included that quality control as one of the crucial measures to further stimulate the use of bicycles.

We must conclude that the government has not done anything about it for at least two full years. It has not implemented that Directive. Today, as Parliament, we must again give the directive to work on this.