Motorcycle Euro-4 Licence

[NickPaul]

Hello everyone.

I am 19 and I will be studying in an Italian university this, and I plan on buying a motorcycle, so I have some question regarding the European law and restriction.

I have heard about the Euro 4 law but I don't know how it affects me in my situation (I have read almost every article). As I have acknowledged, it only affects the Manufacturers, BUT what if I am shipped a new Chinese motorcycle without Euro 4 licence, how will it than affect me?

Will I be able to register it or insure it?

Thank you in advance.
All the best
Nick

[MCN]

I cannot advise on the current/somewhat evolving Euro Directive for vehicle licensing but I can advise that you 'Do not ride it as an Italian would'.

They all think they are Vale Rossi.

All of them.


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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Teflon-Mike]

Where are you from?

Euro 4 'compliance' is a 'standard' mostly concerning exhaust emmissions, that new registered vehicles have to meet.

A 'Licence' is more usually the proof of qualification to ride motorcycle legally on public european roads.

Start there; do you have a driving licence that would legally allow you to ride a motorcycle on European roads? Without one, anything else may be a rather redundant question from the start.

There are four basic European motorcycle licenes:
AM entitlement for mopeds; A1 entitlement for up to 15bhp 125's, A2 entitlement for up to 45bhp middle-weight motorcycles, and A/A3 'unrestricted' licence for any bike or any power or cc.

In the UK, we have the anomoly of A1 'L-Plate' laws that allow, withing the UK, a UK licence holder to ride an A1 catagory motorcycle, ahead of passing tests to do so, as long as they have completed a CBT course to get a DL196 cert to validate provisional entitlement; display L-Plates, dont carry pillion passengers and dont use motorways; for up to two years.

UK 'provisional' entitlement is not recognised by other european countries; if you want to ride an A1 125 outside the UK, you must have a full motorcycle licence.

Moped entitlement is awarded by UK car driving tests, and many Euro countries, for similar tests; but again, its only validated in the UK by taking a CBT course and gaining the DL196 form.

So, if you dont have a Euro Driving licence, you will likely have to get one, first, and this could be a more difficult conundrum than whether a bike from abroad might be registered.

If you are a UK resident, and have a UK driving licence, as said you cant ride a 125 in itally on UK provisional entitlement, you need to have passed a UK driving test for a motorcycle.

If you were to be a resident in the UK; you would have a UK residential addres where licence address matched were you lived, and where you could register a motorcycle.

Go to Itally, on that motorcycle, if it was legal in the UK, as far as tax insurance and MOT then it would be legal in Itrally, for so many months, as a 'visitor'... you would need an insurance policy extension for foreigner use but short term extensions are often given away fre with UK policies; if staying away longer, then you would have to negotiate with them..... but, if legal in UK as a visitor to Itally, bike should be legal there too.

Importing a vehicle, from outside the EU.... well.... possible... whether it would actually be worth while is another question.... Itally is probably the largest manufacturing nation of motorcycles in Europe.... its not like bikes are so thin on the ground there........

As such, any potential savings to buy a forriegn motorcycle, ship it half way around the world, register it as a personal import and by the time you have got it on the road, IF you can get it on the road, is rather debatable... and suggesting something from China doesn't imply anything of inordinate rarity or value, it suggests something 'cheap' built for the local market in asia.. that probably doesn't meet basic construction and use regulations for sale in the EU, let alone the emmision regulations of Euro-4....

In the UK.... you can register a 'personal import' with DVLA, but it HAS to meet not just the Construction & Use regulations in force for a meet more stringent 'Single-Vehicle-a-approval' regulations, on a rather expensive ministry inspection....

There are an awful lot of chinese bikes here in the UK that have never been registered, because when new the buyers didn't know the full ins and outs of how they were supposed to register one; and if they found out, the costs actually made it cheaper to scrap off what they had bought on e-bay and go buy a ready registered bike off the second hand market, or even new from a dealers. whether they met the relevent standards of the time or not!

Having a sales invoice and manufacturers Certificate of Conformity' to apropriate standards can aid registration inspection; showing the vehicle to be the same 'type' as has been formerly tested and accepted by registration authority likewise; BUT, without those, a bike bought in china, or even one imported and unregistered here in Europe ISN'T a road vehicle.... its a garden ornament, and if you want to register it as a road-vehicle, you have to put it through all the tests and possibly more, that the original manufacturer didn't.. probably because it wouldn't pass them... and make any mods to the machine necessary to make sure it CAN pass them.....

In Itally... I don't know what their registration scheme may be; but its likely you have to be not just an EU resident, but an Italian resident to even apply; and judging by Moto-Guzzi and Ducatti work-shop manuals, you had probably have more than a working knowledge and fluency in technical Italian! Let alone the patience to deal with their ancient bureaucracy!

I do know that they had some very protectionist import laws, not just to stop forreign motorcycles being brought into the country, but also registration and taxation laws to that even ones made in the country, would only be there for about 7 years before it was cheaper to scrap them and buy another than keep licencing it.....

With Piaggio and other Italian makers bringing Chinese and indian made motorcycles and scooters into the country as "Complete knock Down kits" basically a box of parts, not a whole motorcycle, then putting them together in an Italian where house, to justify a 'Made in italy' label and sell them in Europe, where they still have to comply with EU registration & Construction & Use regs.... I would imagine, that trying to DIY a whole motorcycle, is probably NOT particularly ecconomic....

BUT... that's way down your list of worries. As non Italian resident, could you even ride an Italian registered motorcycle in the country? Driving licence issues abound; residency issues abound, long before import regulations or registration regulations to ride a bike that's a personal import from else-where.

The Devil is in the detail, and this is a very open question to what is actually a very specific set of circumstances, only YOU can untangle...

But at a guess, its probably NOT even worth trying. There's plenty of bikes in Itally, and plenty of cheap ones, thanks to thier tax laws. If you can ride anything there, its probably not worth trying to get one outside the country and making life even harder for yourself.
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