presentation to the motor vehicle working group (mvwg)

8/14/2019 Presentation to the Motor Vehicle Working Group (MVWG)

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2nd February 2010Caroline OfoegbuDeputy Director GeneralEuropean BureauFederation Internationale De L’AutomobileRue de la Science 41 (5 th Floor)

1040 BrusselsBelgium

FROM THE AMERICAN IMPORT AGENTS ASSOCIATION57-63 Coburg Road, Wood Green, London N22 6UB, United Kingdom

Re- Draft Proposal for Harmonised Individual Vehicle Approval

“The Small Business Act for Europe is the commission’s ambitious plan to address the needs of Europe’s

small and medium-sized businesses. It takes into account the diversity of Europe’s entrepreneurial spirit

and includes guidance on how to develop SME policy at EU and national level.”

Françoise Le Bail’s comments before European SME Week in May 2009

Dear Caroline,

Following my conversations with Frank van West and yourself, I am writing to thank-you

both for your support to-date. In this letter, I outline the issues and our proposals in the

hope that the FIA can play an even more significant role in resolving the matter.

Fundamentally, the problem is that the genuine very low volume American car scene in

Europe has been caught up as an unintended consequence in the attempt by the European

Commission to prevent another Landwind/HHR debacle.

The AIAA is speaking on behalf of the micro-American car import industry across Europe.Even though it was not apparent in the FIA’s press releases about the Landwind and the

HHR, we now understand from Mr. Van West and yourself that it was not the intention of

the FIA to prevent micro-sme’s carrying out the legitimate business of importing low

volumes of new cars (built to broadly equivalent levels of safety and environmental

protection) for citizens across the Member States. These vehicles (mostly American) permit

consumer choice and have a longstanding history of being available for an enthusiast

buyer/driver.



To help to solve the problem, we are asking the FIA to make representations to the

Commission that support the fact that Article 24 of the new Framework Directive already

regulates these vehicles in a thoroughly proportionate way. It is clear that the “loophole”that the FIA lobbied to close, concerned the importation by manufacturers of high volumes

of non-compliant vehicles built in large series. Even though this problem happened in only

one member state, these are the only vehicles that have clearly abused the spirit of Type

Approval by undermining safety and environmental protection for European citizens.

Article 24 already recognises that there is a line beyond which exact compliance with Type

Approval Standards is disproportionate for genuine individual vehicles so long as there is

an equivalent level of safety and environmental protection. However, Article 24 does permit

Member States to carefully craft the National requirements of safety and environmental

protection in line with their own historical and cultural considerations.

In the three year run-up to the implementation of the new Framework Directive UK

Department for Transport invited the American Import Agents Association to be an official

Stakeholder in the Industry Working group. We were involved in every meeting alongside

the SMMT and others, where we tried to make a constructive contribution. Our engagement

with Industry and the officials in DfT was matched 100% by their respect and attention to

detail towards our needs as responsible Stakeholders. The UK technical officials truly

followed the principles of Better Regulation to ensure that the administrative provisions and

technical requirements applied in the UK’s National IVA scheme, ensure a level of road

safety and environmental protection which is equivalent to the greatest extent practicable to

the level provided for by the provisions of the Directives. Indeed at the end of the processthe UK Government wrote about the success of the AIAA’s engagement as an SME

stakeholder in the Government’s Summary of Simplification Plans 2009.

We believe that the proposal for Harmonsied IVA is fundamentally flawed, as there is no

one-size-fits-all either for technical reasons OR for National cultural/historical reasons. It is

clearly disproportionate that after 3 years of consultation and after receiving public

recognition of the engagement with the UK Government on the implementation of

2007/46/EC, the European legislators have sought to change the IVA scheme without

following the principles of Better Regulation. Indeed, all of this is happening before the

scope of the new regulations even comes into force for (N1) Light Goods vehicles!Furthermore, we believe that if a Harmonsied IVA was created, this could give the “green

light” to the manufacturers to avoid ECWVTA, whenever they felt like it. This will surely be

an unintended consequence in the opposite direction.

Our concrete proposals are as follows

1) Amend the 2007/46/EC Directive to disallow a Manufacturer from using National IVA for

a vehicle produced in large series. Manufacturers may already use National Small Series,



EC Small Series or ECWVTA. This amendment would prevent a future Landwind,

Suzuki or HHR problem from occurring. This proposal will continue to permit Member

States, for genuine low volume imports, to offer an approval on a National basis under the

current regime of Article 24. This proposal will permit the differing views held by Member

States in their treatment of Individual vehicles to prevail. As these approvals are National

and would not automatically gain acceptance in a second Member State, MutualRecognition would need to be relied upon, as explained clearly in Articles 23 and 24 of the

Directive. For very low volumes or individual vehicles, Mutual Recognition cannot be

viewed as a loophole-it is a fundamental right enshrined in European Law.

OR

2) Urge the European Commission to conduct bi-lateral discussions with Germany to

change the way that the Regional TUV Authorities administer the German National

Scheme. Clearly, the IVA Scheme must not be used by manufacturers or their officialimporters for vehicles built in large series. Even though there do not appear to have

been any abuses of National schemes since the enforcement date of April 29th last year, the

potential risk remains.

AND/OR

3) The Commission could issue a Communicative document to all Member States with a

series of guidelines that should be followed to prevent abuse of their National schemes.

This document should clearly define the meaning of Individual Vehicle Approval and whilst

this would not be legally binding, it would clearly reinforce a responsible message to theMember States in their administration of IVA.

It is important to re-emphasize that the vehicles we are concerned with do not directly

compete with the OEM’s, as they are generally models sold to enthusiasts that the

manufacturers do not offer. Hence we pose no threat to them (previously in the UK, the

SMMT has acknowledged this fact). Instead, individuals/micro-sme’s can choose from a

wider selection of vehicles and can sometimes introduce more environmentally friendly

technologies such as Hybrid or Electric vehicles onto European roads quicker than theOEM's. This can make an impact for consumers in the marketplace and can put pressure

on the manufacturers to react quicker, providing the manufacturer with useful market

intelligence.

We remain committed to work hard in tandem with the FIA, the Commission and other

stakeholders to resolve this issue. Even though we represent only the smallest category of



business designation in the European marketplace, we are fully supportive of the objectives

of the FIA and the many principles of law that the European Commission stands for. We

remain optimistic that after due consideration of our representations, the influence of the

FIA could be pivotal in aiding the Commission and the technical experts in the 27 Member

States to solve this complex issue in a conciliatory and proportionate manner. We would

appreciate if the FIA could write to the Commission in the next couple of weeks in support

of our proposals. This will surely be a good outcome for many reasons, not least of whichwould maintain the respect for those individuals in Europe that have an affinity for North

American products and the transatlantic relationship. As business people that care about

environmental protection and consumer safety, we hope that a successful outcome will be

forthcoming soon without the need for additional lobbying.

Yours truly,

Anthony Cohen

Chairman-American Import Agents AssociationTel: +44 20 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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