While in Spain whether or not to pass MOT on motorcycles is a taboo subject, in Portugal they have agreed to repeal it and it will be done now, starting next January 2025. Through a vote in parliament, the deputies Portuguese have decided to oppose the establishment of the mandatory technical control that should have come into force on January 1, 2025 and, therefore, they will not have to pass the aforementioned inspection.
This measure goes against the movement that we see throughout Europe, not just Spain, since France ended up having to implement it due to pressure from the European Union, something that in our neighboring country seems to have had no effect, at least for the moment.
We must remember that whenever we talk about ITV for motorcycles, there is a strong movement against them because it is argued that precisely the motorcycle user is perfectly aware of the danger of riding a motorcycle in poor condition. And, also, because motorcycle accident rates do not point to poor condition, as happens in other types of vehicles.
In any case, in Portugal there will be no mandatory MOT for motorcycles and that may open avenues for the rest of the European Union countries to follow in their footsteps in the future. For now we also have to wait to see what the figures for the coming months and years say about the implementation of the mandatory MOT for motorcycles in France, and how this change has been reflected. Because, if it were not perceptible, it would give a boost to the movement that considers that motorcycle MOTs are not necessary.
In fact, and returning to the case of France, a country in which they have fought to avoid them although they have finally had to implement them, the fact is recognized that the French government did not implement the plans that could have prevented it, and that together with The pressure that certain groups are capable of exerting ended up implementing it.
Portugal says no to ITV for motorcycles
Fortunately, for our Portuguese neighbors the situation there is very different and after 12 years of pressure from different groups and, mainly, the Group, they have borne fruit. This is how they analyzed the situation after the decision: “The decision to impose a mandatory periodic technical control for motorcycles in Portugal on January 1, 2025 has been definitively buried. The wait has been long, but it is finally here: Portugal will not introduce a mandatory periodic technical control for motorcycles. After more than 12 years of fighting to raise awareness about the real facts surrounding this issue, we finally got the Portuguese government on our side. Yesterday, the Portuguese parliamentary majority repealed the mandatory periodic technical control for motorcycles.”
Meanwhile, in Spain this situation is completely different, since although there are voices that are raised against the ITV controls, it is not a majority movement. What’s more, having been in place for so many years, it is something that most have assumed. Not to mention the weight that, economically speaking, inspection centers have in our country.
