IMCO-Committee meeting: Approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (30th May 2016). The IMCO (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) committee had a public discussion on the Commission’s proposal on a Regulation on approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles. The rapporteur of the dossier Mr. Danial Dalton (MEP) as well as several shadow rapporteurs and Mrs Johanna Szychowska (EC) stated their opinion.
Besides ACEA, FIA, AFCAR and BEUC also CITA was invited at the European Parliament to join this discussion to represent the technical services. Gerhard Müller, as chair of the CITA type approval expert group, gave a presentation. Main items under discussion were:
- A consistent application of the common regulatory framework for the marketing of products (New Legislative Framework – NLF) in the EU to the type-approval legislation for vehicles means no fee structures for approval or conformity assessment procedures and no commissioning of Technical Services by Type-Approval Authorities (TA)
- Clear specification for a EU-wide harmonized and final “assessment check-list” with adequate requirements for designation and monitoring of Technical Services to ensure their independence and competences across the Union
- Strict separation of responsibilities of the key stakeholders (TA, TS, manufacturer) in the type-approval process to ensure checks and balances and to avoid any conflict of interest
- In order to assure a comprehensive market surveillance program to check vehicles throughout their life cycle, the concrete scope of market surveillance activities and the frequency of checks should no longer be left solely to the discretion of the respective Member States. According to the EU Single Market legislation certain checks in the course of market surveillance as well as conformity of production (CoP) and in-service conformity (ISC) tests can be delegated to independent qualified bodies by the TAs.
- Compulsory testing of the vehicle’s software in the type approval process including insight to the development process of the software plus verification of the software status within the scope of the periodic inspections (PTI) by Technical Services to close the legal loophole for using defeat devices in vehicles and to guarantee functionality of safety-related systems
- The regulation must set out requirements for the construction of the vehicle, so that it is possible to test safety-related components at a later time within the course of the PTI by means of a visual examination and performance test without the disassembly of vehicle parts.
- Establishment of a coordination forum consisting of representatives of the EU-Commission and Technical Services to ensure uniform enforcement and application of type-approval procedures in the Member States.
On 1st of July Mr. Daniel Dalton will publish his official report for further discussion. The voting is planned before the end of the year.