Department for Transport
 Printable version
|
 E-mail this to a friend
|
New measures to harmonise vehicle standards and open new markets
New measures coming in to force today will make it easier for manufacturers of commercial and special-purpose vehicles to access new European markets.
These measures, which already apply to cars, are designed to ensure that all new vehicles across Europe meet the same safety and environmental standards. Once fully implemented they will enable vehicle manufacturers to sell their products across 27 member states without incurring additional approval costs. This considerably reduces the burden on manufacturers who until today have needed to apply for separate approval from each member state.
The changes - which cover vans, trucks, minibuses, buses, coaches, trailers, wheelchair-accessible cars and other special-purpose vehicles - are in response to a new European Directive on Whole Vehicle Type Approval Directive (ECWVTA).
Transport Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick said
"These measures present a great opportunity for improving the safety and environmental performance of all vehicles across Europe.
"In addition, they will open up European markets to British manufacturers by removing the technical barriers to trade and lessening the administrative burden."
Under ECWVTA manufacturers will be responsible for ensuring that their vehicles meet a series of construction requirements covering areas such as braking, lighting, crash safety and environmental standards. In addition the manufacturer's production processes will be assessed to confirm that each vehicle coming off the production line conforms to the same approval standards.
The Department has used provisions within the Directive to also implement national approval schemes which will be available at a lower cost. Low volume manufactures wishing to sell in the UK only will be required to meet National Small Series Type Approval or Individual Vehicle Approval requirements rather than ECWVTA.
ECWVTA will be phased in between 2009 and 2014. Once the new requirements come in all affected vehicles will have to be built to an approved standard before they can be sold and registered for use on the road.
Notes to editors
1. ECWTVA has applied to cars since 1996.
2. In order to give manufacturers time to meet the new requirements the directive will be phased in until 2014:
* Cars - 29 April 2009
* Minibuses, buses, and coaches - 29
October 2010
* Vans and light trucks - 29 October 2011
*
Heavy trucks and trailers - 29 October 2012
* Special purpose
vehicles - 29 October 2014
3. New procedures will be necessary to ensure that trailers, which currently do not require any form of approval, are not placed on the road unless they have been approved. For small trailers, the retailer will be required to keep records. For large trailers, which are subject to annual roadworthiness testing carried out by the Vehicle and Operator Standards Agency (VOSA), the records will be kept by VOSA.
4. All businesses involved in the manufacture, build, import or sale of new vehicles will need to gain approval certification for their products. No approval, no sale.
5. Government strategy is to simplify the existing Regulations and reduce the burden on the vehicle manufacturer at a time when most are facing difficult challenges. ECWVTA puts in place the framework to enable the removal of 5 sets of Regulations from the statute book and create UK wide approval regime, rather than the previous similar but separate GB and NI regimes.
6. National Small Series Type Approval (NSSTA) and Individual Type Approval (IVA) will allow low volume and specialised UK manufacturers who rarely export to continue to sell in the domestic market. The schemes require manufactures to comply with the same technical standards as defined for ECWVTA but the cost of demonstrating compliance is lower.
7. Further information is available at http://www.dft.gov.uk/typeapproval
Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport
Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk
