INTRODUCTION
Many industrial sectors are subject to some form of approval or certification system but road vehicles are a special case, because of their importance to and impact upon society, and have been subject to specific technical standards almost from their first invention. Within Europe, two systems of type approval have been in existence for over 20 years. One is based around EC Directives and provides for the approval of whole vehicles, vehicle systems, and separate components. The other is based around ECE (United Nations) Regulations and provides for approval of vehicle systems and separate components, but not whole vehicles.
WHAT IS AUTOMOTIVE TYPE APPPROVAL?
Put simply, type approval is the confirmation that production samples of a design will meet specified performance standards. The specification of the product is recorded and only that specification is approved. Automotive EC Directives and ECE Regulations require third party approval - testing, certification and production conformity assessment by an independent body. Each Member State is required to appoint an Approval Authority to issue the approvals and a Technical Service to carry out the testing to the Directives and Regulations. An approval issued by one Authority will be accepted in all the Member States.
Note: automotive Directives are "old approach" in terms of requiring third party testing and approval. "New approach" Directives follow a different format and place more obligation on the manufacturer to make sure that the product meets appropriate requirements. EU Member States have agreed that the new approach is not appropriate for road vehicles.
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