According to a Freight Transport Association (FTA) report, the European Commission is currently drafting a regulation which will replace the two current Type Approval Directives for masses and dimensions of vehicles.

As originally drafted, the regulation would have limited the height of vehicles and trailers to four metres for type approval purposes. From the start, the FTA lobbied against the proposals and continues to apply pressure on the European Commission to abandon this aspect of it plans.

A working group of officials from member states (which includes officials from the Department for Transport (DfT)) is currently discussing the draft regulation in its early stage. FTA has been extremely active in lobbying DfT on this issue to influence the working group to urge the Commission to reconsider the proposals. The Association has submitted to DfT and the Commission a survey of 15 members, operating over 4,500 trailers greater than four metres in height. This clearly sets out the congestion and CO₂ implications. The DfT has continued to press for the inclusion of current provisions which would allow the approval of ‘oversize’ vehicles. 

FTA has attended stakeholder meetings in Brussels of the Commission’s Working Group for Motor Vehicles and also made interventions reiterating its position to the Commission. As a result of FTA lobbying, a number of member states also made interventions stating that they found the draft proposals unacceptable, with others stating that they would need ‘maximum flexibility’ inserted into any new legislation.

At the time of writing, version 6 of the draft regulation has been compiled; this amends the proposed maximum height of large goods vehicles and double-deck semi-trailers to 4.88m. The FTA believes this is a ‘token gesture’ from the Commission and that it is inadequate. The Association’s view remains that the existing derogation to permit oversize vehicles and trailers to be approved for national transport should be retained; this view is echoed by DfT.