Council Directive 77/311/EEC of 29 March 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the driver-perceived noise level of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors3 has been substantially amended several times4. In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified.

Directive 73/311/EEC is one of the separate Directives of the EC type-approval system provided for in Council Directive 74/150/EEC of 4 March 1974 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors, as replaced by Directive 2003/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on type-approval of agricultural or forestry tractors, their trailers and interchangeable towed machinery, together with their systems, components and separate technical units5, and lays down technical prescriptions concerning the design and construction of agricultural or forestry tractors, as regards driver-perceived noise level. Those technical prescriptions concern the approximation of the laws of the Member States to enable the EC-type approval procedure provided for in Directive 2003/37/EC to be applied in respect of each type of tractor. Consequently, the provisions laid down in Directive 2003/37/EC relating to agricultural and forestry tractors, their trailers and interchangeable towed machinery, together with their systems, components and separate technical units, apply to this Directive.

This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States concerning the time-limits for transposition into national law and application of the Directives set out in Part B of Annex IV,