The European Commission needs to perform a veritable U-turn in regulation and industrial policy so that European farm machinery manufacturers, whether big or small, can continue to be commercially viable in Europe, according to a new report produced by the European farm machinery industry association (CEMA).

The association fears that excessive regulation designed for the wider motor industry is going to result in farm machinery industry closures.

The CEMA report claims that the dramatic fall in the numbers of farmers in Europe, their rising average age and the structural changes in farm holdings have had a huge impact on the farm machinery business. Gilles Dryancour, honorary president of CEMA, has said that the EU needs to abandon the distorted and harmful logic of using a motor industry-based regulatory approach for tractors and farm machines.

CEMA claims that the changes in the European tractor market are such that in 1950 seven new tractors were sold in an area of 100km², then inhabited by 210 farmers, compared with 34 new tractors in a similar land area occupied by 34 farmers in 2010. It claims that motor industry regular comparisons are not valid as the typical annual production of one single passenger car model is above 200,000 units, while by contrast the total EU market for new tractors is around 170,000 units; that is less than sales of one single model of one passenger car.

Dryancour believes that the EU needs to adopt a forward-looking regulatory approach that allows the European farm machinery industry to define its own technical standards and move towards more self-certification.

CEMA believes that it is important to prevent free-riding spare part producers from undermining the delicate economic equilibrium in the farm machinery dealership networks. It believes that the excessive costs being put on manufacturers by the new RMI rules are preventing European farm machinery manufacturers from being commercially successful.

CEMA claims that the most prominent example in the recent wave of EU regulation is Regulation 167/2013/EC and it’s Delegated Act 1322/2014, which contains an obligation on tractor and machinery manufacturers to provide access of vehicle Repair and Maintenance Information (RMI) to independent operators. CEMA claims that if this measure is adopted it will deeply alter the market’s structure and will negatively affect the farm machinery dealership's viability and the manufacturers’ spare parts business.

Read more

ABS brakes on 40km/hr tractors make no sense