The European type approval framework Directive 2007/46/EC currently recognises and authorises vehicle approval under four different schemes:
- European whole vehicle type approval
- European small series type approval (only available for M1 category vehicles)
- National small series type approval
- National individual vehicle approval
The technical requirements for the European type approval schemes are contained within 2007/46/EC itself, whereas the technical requirements for the National approval schemes are left to the discretion of each Member State.
The National Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) scheme option is the one intended to cater for vehicles registered in the lowest volumes, such as amateur built vehicles, low volume sports cars and specialist vehicle conversions. However, these National IVA schemes are also used to obtain approval for mass produced vehicles from countries outside the European Union (e.g. USA, Japan, China, etc.) which were originally intended for registration in their country of origin.
Due to the large number of such vehicles being imported into the European Union in recent years, the European Commission decided that it was no longer appropriate for each Member State to set their own technical requirements for the IVA of such vehicles and that Europe wide harmonised requirements were required.
After much negotiation, harmonised technical and administrative requirements for the "European" Individual Vehicle Approval of M1 and N1 category vehicles "produced in large series in or for third countries" were agreed and an amendment to the European type approval framework Directive 2007/46/EC to incorporate these new requirements was published on 26th February 2011. The new harmonised requirements are contained in Commission Regulation (EU) No. 183/2012 and enter into force on 26th February 2012. The new technical and administrative requirements for European IVA are introduced as a new Appendix to Annex IV and a new European IVA approval certificate format is introduced into Annex VI.
The new technical requirements for European IVA are based on the technical requirements for full European whole vehicle type approval, but include a number of exemptions and relaxations. Furthermore, in instances where the regulations applicable in the country of origin of the vehicle have been recognised as providing a level of road safety and environmental protection which is at least equivalent to the European technical requirements, evidence of compliance with these third country regulations will be accepted for European IVA.