Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

Cycling associations claim victory: E-bikes will be excluded from compulsory insurance

Full story - https://www.ecf.com/news-and-events/news/cycling-associations-claim-victory-e-bikes-will-be-excluded-compulsory

After years of advocating to exclude e-bikes from mandatory motor vehicle insurance, ECF and CONEBI have succeeded in getting the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to overturn the original European Commission proposal.
After years of the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and the Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI) advocating to exclude e-bikes from mandatory motor vehicle insurance, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU last week reached a provisional agreement on the update of the Motor Insurance Directive that aligns with ECF and CONEBI’s views.

The combined lobby of civil society and cycling industry representatives appealed to the Parliament and Council to reverse a proposal from the European Commission that all EPACs and pedelecs, commonly called e-bikes, should be covered by the EU directive.

The Commission’s 2018 proposal to update the directive defined the scope of motorised vehicles eligible for third-party liability insurance to also include all e-bikes. The associations believed that this would undermine the EU’s stable regulatory framework for e-bikes, which has made the EU the world’s leader in e-bike use.

ECF and CONEBI argued that an electric-power-assisted bicycle under current EU rules is essentially a bicycle, not a motor vehicle, and that the damages caused by such bicycles are not high enough to justify a mandatory motor vehicle insurance for their users. It would also create a barrier to their use, would not improve road safety and would create confusion amongst member states as to how to implement the legislation.

ECF and CONEBI thought that the Commission’s initial proposal was an error that would signify an over-regulatory barrier to the uptake of e-bikes and lobbied the European Parliament and EU member states to overturn this error.

The Parliament and member states in the Council agreed and reached a provisional agreement on 22 June 2021 to overturn the original Commission text on the scope, with the two institutions deciding to only include vehicles that are “propelled exclusively by mechanical power,” effectively excluding all e-bikes, which are principally muscle-powered with power assist.