Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 302: To ask the Minister for Transport his Department's positions [i]vis-À-vis [/i]the use of tinted glass in motor vehicles. [38688/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It is a requirement for the registration and entry-into-service of new cars in the European Union that they have EU whole vehicle type approval, EU-WVTA. In order to receive EU-WVTA, a car must meet the technical specifications for a range of items, including the glazing and the field of vision of drivers, which are set down in a series of separate directives. It is not open to a member state to prohibit the sale or entry-into-service of a car which has EU-WVTA.

Under the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations 1963, which specify vehicle in-service standards, a vehicle must be constructed so that the driver can at all times have such a view of the road and of other traffic on the road as is necessary to enable the vehicle to be driven safely. It is a requirement under these regulations for a windscreen to be fully transparent so as not to distort the driver's view. Enforcement of the regulations is a matter for the Garda Síochána.

Concerns have been expressed about modifications to the glazing and exhaust systems of motor vehicles which result in excessively "blacked-out" windows and noisy exhausts and it has been suggested that such modifications could be made reasons for failure of the NCT. I would like to clarify matters in that regard. Before proceeding to review existing NCT arrangements, it would be necessary to develop national technical standards for glazing opacity in relation to motor vehicles and then, taking into account the results of regulatory impact assessments, to amend the Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles Regulations and the NCT Regulations taking account of these standards. It would also be necessary to submit the draft amending regulations to the European Commission for consideration and for referral to other member states in accordance with the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive 98/34/EC before they could come into force. A timeframe in the order of 12 months would be required to complete such a course of action.

Given the complexity of the issues relating to the modification of vehicles, I intend to have the matters of excessively "blacked-out" windows, noisy exhausts and some other issues examined by an expert group. In that regard, one of the recommendations contained in the PricewaterhouseCoopers report on the mid-term review of the NCT is the establishment of a technical standards forum to consider and make recommendations in relation to vehicle technical matters associated with the NCT. It is my intention to implement that recommendation and, in that context, the matters of excessively "blacked-out" windows will be referred to the technical standards forum for consideration upon its establishment. Until such time as I receive the views of the forum on these matters, it would be premature to introduce changes to the existing statutory requirements.