Belgium wants a European Car-Pass in the battle against odometer fraud
Belgium is proposing the creation of a European Car-Pass for the exchange of odometer data within the EU. Belgium will work on this in the coming months. The Belgian Presidency of the EU has announced that the battle against odometer tampering is a priority.
What is the Car-Pass?
The Belgian Car-Pass is a document that logs the history of a car. The Car-Pass shows the odometer reading, for example. As well as which Euro standard the vehicle meets and how much CO2 it emits. This information is important for a buyer's decision as to whether or not to buy the car.
Why a European Car-Pass?
Millions of second-hand cars are sold in the EU every year. And every year, consumers pay billions of euros over the odds due to odometer fraud. A collaborative approach is therefore necessary to tackle fraud.
The odometer readings of vehicles are recorded in all EU countries. It is very important to amalgamate these in a European system. That register must then be available to buyers and sellers of second-hand
vehicles. It provides the buyer with information about the history of the car and reduces fraud.
The Belgian proposal
The Belgian Minister of State for Consumer Protection announced her plans to tackle odometer tampering before the European Parliament on 24 January. The Belgian presidency would like:
- A reliable and complete central national registration system for odometer reading details in EU countries
- To give consumers and car dealers access to odometer reading details
- For EU countries to share odometer reading information
Existing collaboration between countries
The Belgian Car-Pass is already collaborating with a few countries, including the Netherlands. For example, the organisation shared 397,075 mileage readings with the Netherlands in 2023. As a result of these agreements between the two neighbouring countries, fraud involving vehicles imported from the Netherlands has fallen sharply.
Next steps
This proposal for a European system will be discussed further by the Consumer Affairs Council in April 2024. This will probably result in a recommendation to the European Commission to develop the rules further.
Want to know more?
You can read more about this subject on the Car-Pass website Exchange of odometer readings between EU member states urgently needed. - News about Car-Pass.