CHANGES TO THE LAW ON ELECTRIC SCOOTERS VOTED BY PARLIAMENT - AGE LIMIT OF DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS, TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS, OUT OF COURT AND SPEED - Filenews 16/4 by Theodora Nikolaou
The Parliament voted for a series of changes to the legislation on electric scooters or personal mobility devices, through four law proposals submitted by MPs from the Movement of Ecologists-Citizens' Cooperation and DISY, touching on issues of technical specifications, speed limits, age restrictions and extrajudicial fines.
Initially, the two bills submitted by Alekos Tryfonidis on behalf of DIPA were voted down by a majority, which aimed to prohibit the use of personal mobility devices in public places, as well as the licensing and operation of businesses renting and circulating such devices for the purpose of their use in public places and at the same time to delete the provisions regarding out-of-court fines personal mobility devices.
What the Parliament voted for
The two law proposals submitted by Stavros Papadouris on behalf of the Movement of Ecologists-Citizens' Cooperation were approved by a majority. The first provides for the amendment of the Regulation of the Movement of Bicycles and Other Personal Mobility Devices Law, in order to introduce provisions for the technical specifications of personal mobility devices - such as the device is required to bear a declaration of conformity with CE marking and to comply with the European standard CYS EN 17128:2020 -, and for the possibility of their retention in specific cases by the Police, by an authorized traffic warden of a municipality or community and/or another person authorized by the municipality or community.
The second proposal passed aims to amend the Law on the Extrajudicial Regulation of Offenses, so that an out-of-court fine is imposed on a person who uses a personal mobility device which can develop or develops a speed of more than twenty-five kilometers per hour, instead of twenty kilometers as currently provided.
Changes in the age limit for drivers and passengers
Two more law proposals were put before the Plenary and passed into law, were those submitted by Fotini Tsiridou and Dimitris Dimitriou, with the first amending the Law on the Regulation of the Movement of Bicycles and Other Personal Mobility Devices, so that the use of a personal mobility device is allowed only to persons aged seventeen and over, instead of the current fourteen years, and the transfer of a person as a passenger by the user of such an appliance should be allowed, provided that the person in question is seventeen years of age or older, instead of the twelve years currently provided.
With the second law proposal that was passed into law, the Law on the Extrajudicial Regulation of Offenses is amended, so that an out-of-court fine is imposed on:
1. the owner of a personal mobility device or a person legally responsible for the management or safekeeping of a personal mobility device, where he has not taken all the necessary measures to prevent the use of a personal mobility device by persons under the age of seventeen, instead of fourteen years of age, and
2. a person who carries a passenger using a personal mobility device who is not more than seventeen years of age, instead of more than twelve years of age currently provided.
