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MAG A Step In The Right Direction!

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MAG A Step In The Right Direction!

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Copy of an e-mail from Paddy Tyson from MAG: In response to questions asked in the House of Commons last week by Steve Baker MP (Wycombe), the Secretary of State for Transport Norman Baker has acknowledged that the EU Commission has no evidence on which to base its anti-modification proposals contained within the Type Approval and Market Surveillance Regulation. Replying on Thursday 17th May, the Secretary of State for Transport said "The (EU) Commission has not published any indicators to support the extension of anti-tampering measures to unrestricted motorcycles as part of their current proposal. A Commission sponsored study is underway which may provide evidence on the scale of tampering, its influence on accidents in the EU, and the effectiveness of new regulations. The Department will consider the results of this study when they are published" He went on to say " The Department's impact assessment (published last October) could not find evidence to support anti-tampering measures on unrestricted motorcycles and on this basis the Government has opposed proposals to extend anti-tampering measures to unrestricted motorcycles". Steve Baker, the KTM riding Conservative MP for High Wycombe, asked 4 questions regarding the evidence the Commission may have used to justify its proposals, highlighting the difference between bikes above and below 125cc machines, as these smaller 'restricted' bikes are currently affected by anti-tampering legislation, regardless of policing. MAG has been drawing attention to this issue ever since the Type Approval Regulation was proposed back in October 2010. The Commission failed at the outset to provide any evidence, though it acknowledged that it had been told back in 2004 that it would have to provide some. If, as the Sec of State says, the EU Commission are now undertaking a study, this is hardly the way to draft legislation! The proposals have already been 'scrutinised' by the Committee stage of Parliament and been voted upon. The European legislative process will look pretty stupid if the study finds against the dogmatic position the Commission holds, so dare I say it, but the impartiality of the research is bound to now be in question. The European Ombudsman has already found that the Commission has a case to answer (0875/2011/JF) after MAG member Jon Strong made an official complaint and demonstrated that parts of the Treaty of the European Union had been breached, by introducing legislation without any research or evidence to support it. MAG has also arranged for questions to be asked of the Commission by Members of the European Parliament, and 6 questions are soon to be tabled. Anti-modification legislation is a major threat to the future of motorcycling, but it is perhaps most disturbing when that legislation has absolutely no evidential base and when the EU machine sees fit, not to acknowledge its failings, but rather, half way through the legislative process, start doing some hurried research to justify itself! MAG continues to meet MEPs from all political parties and their researchers to highlight our concerns, as we remain non-partisan. MAG is not anti-EU as some like to portray us, as our members come from all walks of life and we are only concerned with motorcycling, not wider socio-political issues. We have always acknowledged that parts of this regulation raise no concerns at all, but we will continue to fight those parts that do. Article 18 as the current text reads, is alarming and even the unconfirmed, unpublished text of article 18 as under discussion by EU Member States at the minute, asks that best engineering practise be used to ensure riders cannot physically modify their bikes. We remain in close contact with the UK Government and the Motorcycle Industry and are particularly grateful to Steve Baker and all the other MPs who have written to the DfT to express their support of the riders' cause. All MPs should support us. We can vote. Legislation should never be drafted without evidence just because some dogmatic bureaucrat thinks it should be a good idea. I'll draft some suggestions tomorrow for a letter you may wish to send to the Sec of State in an attempt to expand on the response given to Steve and extract assurance that the UK Gov won't endorse anti-modification legislation on bikes above 12

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Deleted Member @ 22/05/2012 16:47  

Erm....not sure what happened there! You'll have to click on it to highlight it if you want to read it!


Unless another MAG member who knows what they're doing posts it again!

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Deleted Member @ 22/05/2012 16:50  

Or maybe not!

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Deleted Member @ 22/05/2012 16:52  

Squiddy - I 'sorted' it for ya If you're copying stuff from somewhere, you need to paste it into Notepad first & then copy & paste from Notepad into here otherwise weird stuff happens!

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Holmfirthgirl @ 22/05/2012 16:54  

I don't use notepad, after I've copied and pasted I just highlight the text and change it to black, even tho it already is black it shows up as not.

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Sandi @ 23/05/2012 01:21  

Cheers HFG!
This is just too technical for my limited ability!

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Deleted Member @ 23/05/2012 19:57  

a bit off thread but is there a list of pro and anti bike MP`s we can use to lobby the undecided

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Deleted Member @ 24/05/2012 18:00  

 Posts: 7       Pages: 1/1

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