In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, the Council of State indicated that this measure would be applied from 1er october.
Will the bikers finally have to comply with a technical control? While the government had no intention of transposing this European obligation in France, the Council of State has just told it otherwise. In a judgment rendered on Tuesday, the judges even impose a date: this technical control of two-wheelers over 125 cm3 must be set up at 1er next October.
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This decision therefore puts on the top of the pile a file that will have to be dealt with by the next Minister of Transport, when everything had been done to ensure that the subject is, once and for all, buried. Faced with Europe’s obligation to impose these new measures no later than 1er January 2022, the government had indeed proceeded in two stages to kick in touch. By a decree published last August, he had first indicated that he was derogating from this European calendar and that these constraints would come into force on 1er January 2023.
Immediately, faced with the rebellion of biker associations, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron intervened in this file. He had let it be known that this decree, and its new date of application, would not be applied. An adviser to the executive then explained that the Head of State considered that “it was not the time to bother the French “. To obtain an exemption from the European obligation, the Ministry of Transport then announced, last November, the implementation of alternative measures covering “the issues of road safety, the fight against pollution and noise”. Enough to meet the objectives of the technical control.
Comply with European law
A new decree was then to be published to list these measures. Among them, a bonus for the conversion of an amount of up to 6,000 euros, without income conditions, for the purchase of electric or very low-polluting two-wheelers. Also, “radar to control noise emissions” were planned. However, this text has never seen the light of day… This is what the Council of State criticizes. The latter points out that “neither the written instruction nor the exchanges during the hearing made it possible to specify the exact content of the measures envisaged”. Then suspending the text of last August, justice considers that it is time for the French government to respect European law, and sets at 1er next October the obligation to comply.
The technical control will reduce the noise pollution caused in particular by the unclamping of the engines, but also those related to air pollution
The 3 NGOs behind the appeal
For the three NGOs that are at the origin of this appeal, this is a victory. In favor of technical control, they believe that it will allow “reduce the noise pollution caused in particular by the unclamping of the motors, but also those related to air pollution”. As one of the three applicants, the association Respire, welcomed this decision on Twitter: “The Council of State gives the government of @Elisabeth_Borne the opportunity to realize its ecological ambitions: it requires it to introduce technical control at 1er October 2022.”
For now, the French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC) remains confident. “If the decree providing for alternative measures is published, everything will be back to normal”, judges its Parisian representative, Jean-Marc Belotti. In other words, the latter believes that motorcyclists will indeed be able to escape technical control.
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