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Sub-standard cars loophole in EU legislationstill wide open

Publication date: 31 March 2008

FIA clubs want real action from the EU on unsafe cars being importedinto Europe. Thanks to a loophole in the so-called European TypeApproval system that governs the conformity of vehicles to strict safetyand environmental norms, sub-standard car models are being importedand sold on the EU market without having an overall EU type approval.As a founding member of the New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP), the FIA has been pushing hard for the EU to finally put a stopto misuse of an import loophole, the so-called individual typeapproval procedure. This allows one-by-one imports of serialproduced passenger cars into an EU member state. Approved as

individual units, and meeting one member state's safety andenvironmental requirements, these cars are actually imported insubstantial numbers and can be sold on in other European countries.The dangers of such loopholecars have been adequately highlightedby German club ADAC's crash testing of two Chinese cars: theLandwind in September 2005 and the Brilliance in May 2007. The verybad performance of both cars in the crash tests defied all standardrequirements, believes Werner Kraus, Chairman of the FIAEurocouncil. Thanks to a loophole in the European Type Approvalsystem these two Chinese car models had to be allowed on the roads ofthe European Union without being subject an overall EU type approval,wrote Kraus in a letter to Gnther Verheugen, Vice President of theEuropean Commission, who is responsible for the car industry. Krausalso wrote to representatives of all EU Member States warning them ofthe open loophole.The loophole has more recently been exploited to protect large gasguzzling vehicles from measures aimed at combating climate change.Vehicles imported as individual units do not have to declare their fuelconsumption or CO2 emissions.Commission had promised to close loopholeBack in November 2005, at a conference organised by the FIA EuropeanBureau in Brussels, FIA President, Max Mosley said With all the troublethat car manufacturers go through to protect the consumer by makingsure that type approval is as it should be, we cant have exceptions.In response to FIA findings, the European Commission promised tofinally close the loophole in then forthcoming legislation. According tothe FIA European Bureau, this new legislation (Directive 2007/46/EC)has so far failed to close the loophole after entering into force on 29October 2007. In his letter to Commissioner Verheugen and others,Kraus expressed his amazement that the safety threatening loopholehas not been closed in the recent legislation despite promises to thecontrary. The so-called individual type approval continues to be usedin a manner that allows mass imports. It is still possible for a largeseries of cars to be sold in the EU, without having been subjected to anoverall EU type-approval and without having been crash tested forsafety, continued Kraus. At all costs, the high standards of roadworthiness and safety that European consumers, our members andyour citizens deserve, must not be jeopardised, he added.In reply, the Commission optimistically states that it is Convinced thatthe new regime that will be put in place from 29.04.2009 is moresevere in terms of compliance with Community legislation than everbefore. In the meantime, however the Commission acknowledges that

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28/12/2009 17:47FIA European Bureau . Sub-standard cars loophole in EU legislation still wide open

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in the absence of full implementation of the new type approvalDirective, the existing individual type approval scheme may lead toabuses. Not totally satisfied with this response, Kraus will ask EU clubsto apply constant pressure, ensuring this issue remains on the politicalagenda.The Austrian club, AMTC, informed Othmar Karas, a member of theEuropean Parliament (MEP). When will the loophole be closed, thatcurrently enables the sale in the EU of large numbers of passenger carsvia an individual type approval? wrote Karas in an officialparliamentary question (PQ) to both the European Commission and theCouncil of the EU Member States. In his question, Karas refers to the

FIA's November 2005 conference presenting the poor crash test resultsof the Jiangling Landwind imported under the loophole. Karas,however, is not the only MEP worried by the loophole that has not beenclosed despite the new framework directive 2007/46/EC. Ari Vatanen,who first asked questions in Parliament in late 2005, has also written aPQ. Vatanen finds it incomprehensible that cars of highly dubioussafety and environmental quality are being made available to EUcitizens after being allowed into the Union through the backdoor, usingthe individual type approval.Dutch loopholes

The official Dutch Chevrolet importer has announced that the ChevroletHHR will be sold at 89 of the 127 official Chevrolet dealers in theNetherlands. Here, the Chevrolet HHR has an individual type approvalbased on testing performed by the TV in Germany. There could thenbe some 200 cars available for sale in the Netherlands and possibly upto 2,500 cars for sale throughout Europe thanks to the Netherlands'

individual approval. This car, however, does not have a Europeantype approval and has not been crash tested for frontal impactprotection (Directive 96/79/EC) and side impact protection (Directive96/27/EC). Not only can vehicles thus potentially jeopardise roadsafety, but they can also avoid environmental taxes. In theNetherlands, the Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.7 V6, for example, is beingimported as under individual approval. The Vitara thereby avoids thecountry's new "slurp" tax for cars with engines emitting more than 232gm per kilometre. Charged a rate of110 for every additional CO2gram, every Suzuki vitara sold could represent a tax evasion of8,140euro (or $12,875.49 USD).

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