Electric scooters now officially considered equal to bicycles

With the publication in Ordinary Supplement No. 45/L of the Official Journal 304 of December 30, 2019, of the provision that, in Article 75, equates electric scooters to bicycles, the Ministerial Decree on Micromobility of June 4 of last year (published in Official Journal No. 162 of July 12) formally came into force, allowing the circulation of these new vehicles—including Segways—in urban areas and on normal roads, just like bicycles. The text published in the Official Journal specifies that this equating is reserved only for "scooters that fall within the power and speed limits" defined in the aforementioned Ministerial Decree of June 4, namely, a maximum power of 0,5 kW and up to 20 km/h. This all stems from the Legislative Decree of April 30, 1992, which amended Article 50 of the New Highway Code to specify that "pedal-assisted bicycles equipped with an auxiliary electric motor" were to be considered "velocipedes." This more clearly implements part of the strategy promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport regarding micromobility, distinguishing electric scooters (and Segways with handlebars) from other new devices such as hoverboards and monowheels, whose circulation can only be authorized in specific areas designated by individual municipalities, such as pedestrian zones and bike paths. For electric scooters—which are a widespread shared mobility system worldwide—this resolves the problem of the spread of sharing services in Italy, which were launched (and in many cases halted) because these vehicles were not actually covered by the Highway Code.