The internal market comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured. To that end, a comprehensive EU type-approval system and a strengthened market surveillance system for agricultural and forestry vehicles and their systems, components and separate technical units as defined by Regulation (EU) No 167/2013 apply.

The term ‘agricultural and forestry vehicles’ covers a wide range of different vehicle types with one or more axles and two, four or more wheels or track-laying vehicles, e.g. wheeled tractors, track-laying tractors, trailers and towed equipment, used for a wide variety of agricultural and forestry purposes, including special purpose works.

While the requirements of this Regulation are based on existing legislation last amended in 1997, technical progress requires in particular the adaptation of the test rules in detail, as well as the introduction of specific provisions for energy reservoirs, vehicles with hydrostatic drive, vehicles with inertia braking systems, vehicles with complex electronic control systems, anti-lock braking systems and electronically controlled braking systems.

This Regulation also includes stricter requirements on brake control of towed vehicles and brake coupling between the tractor and towed vehicles than Council Directive 76/432/EEC, repealed by Regulation (EU) No 167/2013.

By Council Decision 97/836/EC, the Union acceded to United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulation No 13. The substantive requirements laid down in Annex 18 to that Regulation on safety aspects of complex electronic vehicle control systems should be taken over into this Regulation, as they reflect the latest state of technology.

While anti-lock braking systems are wide-spread for vehicles with a maximum design speed of above 60 km/h and could thus be considered as appropriate and made compulsory as of its application by this Regulation, such systems are not yet widely available for vehicles with a design speed between 40 km/h and 60 km/h. For those vehicles, the introduction of anti-lock braking systems should thus be confirmed after a final assessment by the Commission of the availability of such systems. To this effect, the Commission should assess, at the latest by 31 December 2016, the availability of anti-lock braking systems for agricultural and forestry vehicles with a maximum design speed between 40 km/h and 60 km/h. Should this assessment not confirm that such technology is available or applicable, the Commission should amend this Regulation in order to provide that these requirements will not become applicable to vehicles with a design speed between 40 km/h and 60 km/h.

Member States should not, for the purposes of national type-approval, refuse, on ground relating to the functional safety with respect to braking performance, to approve vehicles, systems, components and separate technical units which are compliant with the requirements provided for in this Regulation, with the exception of requirements applying to hydraulic connections of the single-line type. This Regulation should introduce harmonised requirements for hydraulic connections of the single-line type under which such connections could be accepted for the purposes of EU-type approval for a limited period of time. However, as some Member States used to have stricter requirements at national level, Member States should be allowed to refuse granting national type-approvals to vehicle types equipped with hydraulic connections of the single-line type already as from the application date of this Regulation, if they consider this to be in line with their safety requirements at national level.

In order to allow for a harmonised application date of all new type-approval rules, this Regulation should apply from the same date of application as Regulation (EU) No 167/2013,