Whether they are German, French or Spanish car manufacturers, it seems to me that similar failures and similar troubles also befall people in the less developed states, in the small Member States.

At the same time, however, the European Commission has approved enormous state aid for French car makers.

2. Recalls the 24-year history of pedestrian-friendly car fronts to date, with EU and national funding of research in this field, the work of the European Enhanced Vehicle-Safety Committee (EEVC) and its different working groups, contradictory benefit studies by several national road safety institutes on one side and the European Association of Automotive Manufacturers (ACEA) on the other, debates on test methods, the presentation at a relatively early stage of cars which to a considerable extent already meet the EEVC criteria, the ab ...[+++]orted attempts by the Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal and the subsequent promises in various communications to attempt again to propose a legislative act, and European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro-NCAP) tests in which most cars performed rather poorly;

The Société Belge des Automobiles Citroën ("Citroën") of Brussels, a subsidiary of the French manufacturer, has just agreed to terminate limitations on a series of special offers which were likely to discriminate against final buyers according to their nationalities.

Annex There have been a number of important developments since the 1994 communication:[3] - The Task Force on the "Car of tomorrow" has started its work. - The block exemption Regulation for the distribution of motor vehicles has been renewed. - Industrial cooperation agreements have been concluded with China and India. - The Korean and Japanese markets have been further opened to European imports. - Contacts between European suppliers and Japanese manufacturers have been enhanced at the JAMA-CLEPA business conference with the support of the European Union. - The regulatory work on type-approval, mandatory for all new types of passenger ...[+++]cars from 1996, has been completed. - The results of the Auto-Oil Programme, which is based on air quality targets for major European cities and a detailed cost-benefit assessment, have been published and used as a basis for new Commission proposals to reduce passenger car emissions. - New safety and environmental initiatives have been taken (e.g. front and side impact protection, safety belts in coaches). - A training network has been set up with funding from the FORCE programme, resulting in 53 proposals for specific, innovative training projects.

Representatives of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada also appeared before the Committee and their feelings about MMT damage to OBD-II systems mirrored what the Canadian automakers told us.