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

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Sub-standard cars loophole in EU legislation Media Centre
still wide open
News from Brussels
Publication date: 31 March 2008 Newsletters

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FIA clubs want real action from the EU on unsafe cars being imported
into Europe. Thanks to a loophole in the so-called European Type
Approval system that governs the conformity of vehicles to strict safety
and environmental norms, sub-standard car models are being imported
and sold on the EU market without having an overall EU type approval.

As a founding member of the New Car Assessment Programme (Euro

Previous Next NCAP), the FIA has been pushing hard for the EU to finally put a stop
to misuse of an import loophole, the so-called “individual type
approval” procedure. This allows “one-by-one” imports of serial
produced passenger cars into an EU member state. Approved as
“individual” units, and meeting one member state's safety and
environmental requirements, these cars are actually imported in
substantial numbers and can be sold on in other European countries.

The dangers of such “loophole” cars have been adequately highlighted

by German club ADAC's crash testing of two Chinese cars: the
Landwind in September 2005 and the Brilliance in May 2007. “The very
bad performance of both cars in the crash tests defied all standard
requirements,” believes Werner Kraus, Chairman of the FIA
Eurocouncil. “Thanks to a loophole in the European Type Approval
system these two Chinese car models had to be allowed on the roads of
the European Union without being subject an overall EU type approval,”
wrote Kraus in a letter to Günther Verheugen, Vice President of the
European Commission, who is responsible for the car industry. Kraus
also wrote to representatives of all EU Member States warning them of
the open loophole.

The loophole has more recently been exploited to protect large gas
guzzling vehicles from measures aimed at combating climate change.
Vehicles imported as individual units do not have to declare their fuel
consumption or CO2 emissions.

Commission had promised to close loophole

Back in November 2005, at a conference organised by the FIA European

Bureau in Brussels, FIA President, Max Mosley said “With all the trouble
that car manufacturers go through to protect the consumer by making
sure that type approval is as it should be, we can’t have exceptions”.
In response to FIA findings, the European Commission promised to
finally close the loophole in then forthcoming legislation. According to
the FIA European Bureau, this new legislation (Directive 2007/46/EC)
has so far failed to close the loophole after entering into force on 29
October 2007. In his letter to Commissioner Verheugen and others,
Kraus expressed his “amazement” that the safety threatening loophole
has not been closed in the recent legislation despite promises to the
contrary. The so-called “individual” type approval continues to be used
in a manner that allows mass imports. “It is still possible for a large
series of cars to be sold in the EU, without having been subjected to an
overall EU type-approval and without having been crash tested for
safety,” continued Kraus. “At all costs, the high standards of road
worthiness and safety that European consumers, our members and
your citizens deserve, must not be jeopardised,” he added.

In reply, the Commission optimistically states that it is “Convinced that

the new regime that will be put in place from 29.04.2009 is more
severe in terms of compliance with Community legislation than ever
before”. In the meantime, however the Commission acknowledges that

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

in the absence of full implementation of the new type approval

Directive, the existing individual type approval scheme “may lead to
abuses”. Not totally satisfied with this response, Kraus will ask EU clubs
to apply constant pressure, ensuring this issue remains on the political
agenda.

The Austrian club, ÖAMTC, informed Othmar Karas, a member of the

European Parliament (MEP). “When will the loophole be closed, that
currently enables the sale in the EU of large numbers of passenger cars
via an individual type approval?” wrote Karas in an official
parliamentary question (PQ) to both the European Commission and the
Council of the EU Member States. In his question, Karas refers to the
FIA's November 2005 conference presenting the poor crash test results
of the “Jiangling Landwind” imported under the loophole. Karas,
however, is not the only MEP worried by the loophole that has not been
closed despite the new framework directive 2007/46/EC. Ari Vatanen,
who first asked questions in Parliament in late 2005, has also written a
PQ. Vatanen finds it “incomprehensible that cars of highly dubious
safety and environmental quality are being made available to EU
citizens after being allowed into the Union through the backdoor, using
the individual type approval”.

Dutch loopholes
The official Dutch Chevrolet importer has announced that the Chevrolet
HHR will be sold at 89 of the 127 official Chevrolet dealers in the
Netherlands. Here, the Chevrolet HHR has an individual type approval
based on testing performed by the TÜV in Germany. There could then
be some 200 cars available for sale in the Netherlands and possibly up
to 2,500 cars for sale throughout Europe thanks to the Netherlands'
“individual approval”. This car, however, does not have a European
type approval and has not been crash tested for frontal impact
protection (Directive 96/79/EC) and side impact protection (Directive
96/27/EC). Not only can vehicles thus potentially jeopardise road
safety, but they can also avoid environmental taxes. In the
Netherlands, the Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.7 V6, for example, is being
imported as under individual approval. The Vitara thereby avoids the
country's new "slurp" tax for cars with engines emitting more than 232
gm per kilometre. Charged a rate of €110 for every additional CO2
gram, every Suzuki vitara sold could represent a tax evasion of €8,140
euro (or $12,875.49 USD).

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