It will be two months. Time is running out for the government regarding the introduction of technical control for motorized two-wheelers, after the decision rendered, Thursday, June 1, by the Council of State.

The highest administrative court, seized in summary proceedings by several associations fighting for air quality and road safety, orders the government to “take the decree of application of the decree of August 9, 2021 relating to the establishment of the technical inspection of motorized two- or three-wheeled vehicles and motorized quadricycles within two months of the notification of this decision”.

The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, reacted immediately, saying that the government would “of course apply the decision of the Council of State” and that he himself would specify “in the coming days the timetable and the methods of the technical control”, in a statement. At this stage, the exact date on which the motorcycles and scooters will be subject to technical control in France is not known.

In August 2021, a decree provided for the start of technical inspection in January 2023 for vehicles registered before 2016, and later for others. But the next day, at the request of Emmanuel Macron, the government had indicated that it would not apply it, because “it [was] not the time to bother the French”, according to an adviser to the executive.

The Respire, Ras le Scoot and Paris Sans Car associations then seized the Council of State under an emergency procedure to demand the application of the European directive as soon as possible. And, the highest administrative court in the country had agreed with them in May 2022, ordering the executive to apply it from October 2022.

A short time

Since then, the government has been planning to pass a light check on two-wheelers, for less than 50 euros, from June 2023, according to a government note consulted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The applicant associations welcomed the decision of the Council of State, indicating that they hoped that the government “stops shrinking from the inevitable introduction of technical control”.

The European Commission had imposed in 2014 a technical control in all the countries of the European Union, wishing its implementation from January 2022 for two-wheelers over 125 cm3.

“It has now been two years since Ras Le Scoot, alongside Respire and Paris Sans Voiture, has been fighting to enforce European law that Emmanuel Macron is flouting for reasons of electoral opportunity”, lashed out at the association bringing together citizens “overwhelmed by the nuisance of motorized two-wheelers”.

Céline Aubrun, coordinator of the national office of the French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC), found it “complicated” to apply it in such a short time: “As the technical control centers were not necessarily ready, it’s going to be put in place in a hurry, we are worried about such a rapid implementation,” she told AFP.