On Thursday 26 April, the European Commission launched a consultation to complete European legislation on type-approval involving the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and which affects Directive 2007/46/EC (type-approval of motor vehicles), Regulation 167/2013 (type-approval of agricultural vehicles), Regulation 168/2013 (two or three-wheeled vehicles) and Regulation 2016/1628 (non-road mobile machinery).
The Commission points out that when the United Kingdom leaves the Union on 29 March 2019, the British authorities in charge of type-approval will no longer be counted as Union authorities. The Commission indicates that manufacturers that have had type-approval for their products in the United Kingdom in the past will have to do so again with the type approval authorities in the EU27. This would also apply to products that are currently being manufactured.
The Commission points out that “significant” legal uncertainties persist and that it wants to tackle a plethora of technical questions, including the fact that existing European type approval legislation does not allow manufacturers to apply for the approval of the same type in more than one member state or the difficulties that will affect manufacturers that have chosen type approval for their products in the United Kingdom before the latter's withdrawal from the EU, compared to manufacturers that have obtained type approval with another authority in the other member states.
The consultation will end on 10 May 2018. To access the consultation please see the following link: https://bit.ly/2vWVPyn.
The Commission recently published guidelines on type-approval for motor vehicles (see EUROPE 11959), agriculture and forestry and non-road vehicles (see EUROPE 11992). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)