Regulations Spotlight

Compared to its predecessor; 2007/46/EC, EU Regulation No. 2018/858 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, also known as the Framework Directive, places considerably more emphasis on market surveillance. Market surveillance activities are defined as compliance verification activities undertaken by the designated the Market Surveillance Authorities in each Member State on vehicles and components that are placed on the market in their country. These compliance verification checks are to ensure that production vehicles and components comply with the type approval requirements, are safe and are not harmful to the environment, and may take the form of documentary checks, inspections or even full compliance tests in accordance with the type approval requirements. These checks are carried out on vehicles and components taken from their point of sale or, in some cases, on vehicles and components in service.

In addition to the compliance verification activities undertaken by Market Surveillance Authorities, the European Commission also undertake their own compliance verification inspections and tests on vehicles and components placed in the market anywhere within the European Union. To further supplement these compliance verification activities, some of the separate Regulatory Acts specified within (EU) No. 2018/858 (notably EU Regulation No. 2017/1151 on light duty vehicle emissions) envisage compliance verification testing also being carried out by independent organisations, such as consumer organisations.

Although most of the provisions and requirements relating to market surveillance activities are covered within EU Regulation No. 2018/858, on June 8, 2021, the European Commission published a new draft Implementing Regulation for (EU) No. 2018/858 which provides additional detail and definition regarding the operation and coordination of the market surveillance activities, and defines the data which manufacturers must make available to allow these activities to be undertaken.

The draft Implementing Regulation includes:

• Criteria to be used by each Market Surveillance Authority to determine the appropriate amount and type of compliance verification activities that they should be undertaking.
   
• A standard format that Market Surveillance Authorities must use to submit details of their planned market surveillance activities to the European Commission, via the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement.
   
• A standard format that Market Surveillance Authorities must use to report the outcomes and findings from the compliance verification activities that they have undertaken.
   
• A list of the data which manufacturers must make available to the European Commission to allow them to carry out compliance testing on their products.
   
• A list of data which manufacturers must make available to legitimate third party organisations to allow them to carry out compliance testing on their products.
   
• A list of the requirements which third party organisations must fulfil to demonstrate their legitimate interest in the field of public safety and/or environmental protection and their recourse to adequate testing facilities to carry out the relevant compliance testing.

Once finalised, this Implementing Regulation will enter into force twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The Draft Implementing Regulation is available on InterRegs.NET for our EC subscribers and also is available at www.selectregs.com.