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Insurance of electric bikes

25. Mai 2018 15:51:50 CEST

European Commission has given a new proposal - all electric bikes must have insurance.


In Bruxelles, the Commission decided that all electric bikes must have insurance from third-party liability. That decision is still not enforced, it has to be accepted by European parliament.


With that proposal, all e-bike riders with non-insured e-bikes would be illegally riding. That means lots and lots of fines because e-bikes are a trend in Europe and there are millions of e-bike users.


Criminalisation of e-bike riders

ECF stated: „Proposal of the EU commission clarifies the scope of the new directive that all vehicles must have a motor vehicle insurance for third party liability. This clarification was crucial to avoid confusion about which vehicles and on which geographical regions comply with conditions which come with this directive. Unfortunately, EZ's proposal, which was published today includes bicycles with assisted power. EU Commission states that all power assisted bicycles already need to have a complete motor vehicle insurance. With this text, EU Comision tends to criminalize millions of current electric bicycle users, forcing them to have motor vehicle insurance.“



Scope of the new directive:

1. „Vehicle“ is any motor-powered vehicle/device which is used for transportation on land and it is powered by mechanical power.


1a. „use“ of the vehicle is every usage of a motor vehicle, which is in accordance with its functions no matter its performance or terrain type.


ECF wants EU parliament to disapprove this decision from the Commission to avoid criminalization of millions of EU citizens because 20-40% of them use e-bikes.