U.S., EU, Japanese Auto-Parts Makers Form Alliance

BRUSSELS – A U.S. auto industry representative says a new international alliance will better equip parts suppliers in the U.S., the European Union and Japan to comply with environmental regulations.

David Lalain, vice president of the Automotive Industry Action Group, welcomes the U.S.-based organization joining forces with the European Association of Automotive Suppliers and the Japan Auto Parts Industries Assn. (JAPIA) in a global cooperation deal.

He says the umbrella group, called the Supplier Alliance, will help parts makers around the world comply more efficiently with the “constant moving targets” of environmental and related legislation framed by U.S., European and Japanese regulators.

In addition to providing information and guidance on proposals and decisions, the alliance will represent the U.S., European and Japanese parts sectors in lobbying and negotiating with regulators and auto makers.

“The purpose of the Supplier Alliance is to address global supply-chain environmental reporting issues in collaboration with the original equipment manufacturers community where necessary,” CLEPA says in a statement.

According to Lalain, the agreement will help the three industry associations mediate between the suppliers they represent and regulators in the U.S., EU and Japan. When a new piece of legislation is released in any of the three regions, the alliance will gather all the important information and communicate it to suppliers so they can comply quickly and easily.

“We want to make sure we get the same message out to everybody on reporting requirements,” he says.

The suppliers’ representatives will deal with restrictions such as those imposed in the EU by the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals legislation, which requires companies to gather information on the properties of the chemical substances used in manufacturing and register it in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency.

The Supplier Alliance also will advise members on legislative revisions and “material data reporting issues.”

Besides dealing with government regulators, the group will monitor demands from customers. “If a group of car makers decide that something is going to be required of all of their suppliers, we will take their directions and find the best way for suppliers to comply with that,” Lalain says.

“The Supplier Alliance will seek to participate in the creation, technical development, comment and review of environmental-reporting requirements defined by technical-standards organizations on a national and regional basis,” the CLEPA statement says.

However, Lalain says, that does not mean it will seek harmonization in environmental legislation in Europe, Japan and the U.S.

CLEPA CEO Jean Marc Gales says the parts makers’ group will engage auto makers to agree on ways to comply with regulatory requirements. "We expect significant savings by agreeing with the OEMs (on) harmonized – and efficient – reporting requirements worldwide.”

In practice, the Supplier Alliance will create working groups on specific issues. “We identify what a major problem is for the industry and derive from that a project that would require some kind of guidance, a document, some training, some communication, something that is going to help suppliers to deal with this,” Lalain explains.

The alliance also will advise parts suppliers in the U.S., EU and Japan on ways to streamline and improve business practices, Gales says. “If we can standardize the business process so that is more efficient for everybody that has to deal with it, it would be better.”

Kiyonori Sekiguchi, director-technical department of the Japan Auto Parts Industries Assn. tells WardsAuto the deal would allow the three associations to “share ideas and information related to product environmental issues,” adding that “combining threeregional associations can (boost their) influence for negotiationswith partners in the automotive supply chain.”

He says the three groups have joint goals, namelydeveloping a common understanding of product-linkedenvironmental concerns and addressing“global supply chain environmental reporting issues in collaboration with the OEM community”

They might pay special attention todeveloping better supplier communicationsregarding regulatory compliance, which the JAPIA regards as the most important issue for the alliance.