Club of bologna proceedings

 
Hiroyuki TAKAHASHI 
We have two different Departments, the 
Department of testing and evaluation and the 
Department of research and development. We 
exchange information with these departments to 
facilitate our test and research activities. 
Regarding the national test of tractors, from 
1969 to 1997, 1040 tractors have passed the 
test. 
Regarding the exchange of information with 
other test institutes, the reason we do not 
exchange information about non-tractor 
machinery such as combine harvesters is that 
we have different types of machinery: for 
example we have head-feeding combine 
harvesters, while other countries have rear-
feeding combines. That is why we can’t have 
discussions or exchange information about 
these machines with other test organisations.
 
Bernard CHEZE
I very much appreciate the job done by the 
European network, and the way it has been built 
- I think it’s very positive, and its a good 
prospect for the future. Just one question. You 
said that you need to establish standards of 
course, particularly on the safety aspect. I 
would like to ask: in what way can the different 
members of your network put some pressure on 
their standardisation bodies, in order to make 
them deliver the standards that are really 
needed - those which are key standards - for 
safety conformity? In particular I would like to 
stress the fact that there is the well-known PR 
EN 1553, which is a common requirement for 
common parts of agricultural machinery. This is 
really a key standard, and it’s a pity to see that 
for so many years this standard hasn’t come 
out. So you are using the PR EN, but certainly 
you would be more at ease towards the 
manufacturers if you had real EN 1553. So I 
would say to the different members of your 
network, that really you have to do something 
both towards these standardisation bodies, in 
your own member countries, and also towards 
the association of manufacturers. And one last 
comment - you said that you prepared guides for 
conformity. I think it’s an excellent job. I’ve 
seen the two guides you’ve made, one for 
fertiliser spreaders and another one for soil 
tillage. I think this is a very good idea and I 
hope you will go on developing this sort of 
practical guide to help manufacturers.