(8b) The Commission should encourage the development of an internationally harmonised standard format for unrestricted and standardised access to vehicle repair and maintenance information, for example through the work of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN).

Therefore the Commission has given a mandate to the European Committee for Standardisation to develop a new format for submitting repair and maintenance information which reflects the up to date vehicles technology and is also applicable for heavy duty vehicles.

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 aborted 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;

3. Notes the breadth and scope of the research and development programme funded by the EU and Member States over 22 years carried out by the European Enhanced Vehicle-Safety Committee (EEVC), a consortium of several Member States (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) which focus on crash safety with the aid of working groups comprising governmental representatives and industrial experts who undertake research and development of test methods, tools and requirements;

(4 ) Pedestrian protection objectives can be achieved by a combination of active and passive safety measures. The recommendations by the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee (EEVC) of June 1999 are the subject of a wide consensus in this area. Those recommendations propose performance requirements for the frontal structures of certain categories of motor vehicles to reduce their aggressiveness. This Directive presents tests and limit values based on the EEVC recommendations.

Communication of 17 September 2007 from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: “Towards Europe-wide Safer, Cleaner and Efficient Mobility: The First Intelligent Car Report” [COM(2007) 541 final – Not published in the Official Journal].