EU, U.S. Should OK Other’s Vehicle Specs, EC Says

BRUSSELS – European automakers are encouraged by the European Commission’s position on mutual recognition of automotive technical standards with the U.S. ahead of the fifth round of negotiations toward a free-trade agreement taking place this week in Washington.

The EC, which leads the negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the U.S. on behalf of the 28 European Union member countries, says in a document published May 14 that it would like to work with the U.S. to devise a method that could assess whether a technical requirement on one side of the Atlantic is equivalent to one on the other side.

The governments would enlist the help of the auto industry in Europe and the U.S., which already is preparing a study on the issue to support the negotiations.

Cara McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the ACEA, the European automakers trade group, tells WardsAuto the EC’s proposal “is in line with the joint ACEA/American Automotive Policy Council/U.S. Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (Alliance) position, which calls for recognition of equivalence for existing regulations based on performance/outcome.”

“Regulators would conduct such an equivalence assessment based on data provided by the industry as well as other available data,” the EC position paper says. “The evaluation would be focused on the outcome of the technical requirements, rather than the way for them to be proven.

“Therefore, differences in specific technical requirements or testing methods would not per se constitute a proof of absence of equivalence, unless it is determined that such differences have a significant material impact in terms of protection.”

Regulators on both sides then would establish a list of matching regulations considered equivalent in the fields of safety and the environment. This would mean in practice that if a vehicle complies with the regulation in one region it also automatically is in compliance on the other side of the Atlantic.

This is expected to benefit automakers in both the EU and the U.S., since they would not have to test their products twice for the two markets.

“Such recognition would concern the technical requirements applicable to motor vehicles and their parts and components, and cover the technical specifications, how they are measured (i.e., tests carried out to assess compliance), and marking requirements,” the EC document says.

But the EC, the EU’s executive agency, warns this agreement would not cover the significant differences in conformity assessment between the EU and the U.S. Automakers in the EU obtain prior-type approval conforming to international vehicle regulations devised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, while U.S. automakers conduct self-certification under less-centralized regulatory oversight.

Looking ahead, the EC would like to set deadlines for future agreements on solving such regulatory clashes, which will be left out of the trade deal currently being negotiated. This would further help achieve the aims of an 1998 UNECE agreement in which the EC and U.S. committed to work together to establish global technical regulations for vehicles, vehicle parts, testing and advanced safety capabilities.

The EC also expresses a desire to work more closely with the U.S. when new regulations impacting the automotive industry on either side of the Atlantic come under consideration.

“It could be provided that whenever either side considers that a new regulation is required, it will consult the other and commit to work together in order to establish common rules, in principle in the framework of the 1998 (UNECE) Agreement,” the EC position paper reads.