For the purpose of assessing whether a gearbox meets the definition according to Article 3(16) of Regulation (EC) No 661/2009, a gearbox having at least one manual mode according to Article 2(4) of this Regulation shall be considered as a ‘manual gearbox’. For this assessment, automatic changes between gears, which are performed not to optimise the operation of the vehicle but only under extreme conditions for reasons such as protecting or avoiding the stalling of the engine, are not considered.