Recently, a proposal was made to abolish annual and periodic vehicle inspections in Europe and the UK. At present, EU states require most older vehicles to undergo regular roadworthiness tests. Opinions differ on the question of how old such a vehicle must be.
The EU Parliament's 2014 guidelines state that vehicle tests should be carried out regularly in order to promote road safety and protect the environment. Cars of historical interest should preserve the heritage of the time and are excluded from these guidelines. This is based on the assumption that historic vehicles are rarely used on public roads. At this point, it is left to the EU member states to decide how regularly they wish to have technical inspections carried out for historic vehicles.
In Europe, a historic vehicle is defined as a vehicle that is more than 30 years old and still in its original condition.
The UK decided that the limit should only be drawn at 40 years old. As many older vehicles are also driven in everyday life in the UK, MOT tests should remain mandatory for longer, otherwise there would be a risk that many (older) cars would not meet the necessary safety standards.
At least - for truly historic vehicles in Europe, there is hope of relief from the annual inspections.