Three major regulations govern vehicle safety standards worldwide: the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) and UN Regulations. The U.S. and Canada have separate regulations, each with subtle differences. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), however, is highly differentiated and with the majority of the world adopting UN regulations, importing vehicles not specifically designed for the North American market has become increasingly difficult.

In an attempt to harmonize automotive vehicle safety, environmental protection, energy efficiency and theft-resistance regulations, the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29), a working party of the Sustainable Transport Division of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), established the 1958 Agreement. The legal framework defines regulatory standards for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts. Its intention was to facilitate international auto trade through reciprocal, unified vehicle safety measures between nations.

North American Automotive Standards

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S governing agency of FMVSS and Transport Canada, the Canadian governing agency of CMVSS, each require self-certification. Thus the manufacturer bears the responsibility of compliance with applicable standards using defined test methods. Failure to meet statues and regulations defined by the FMVSS and CMVSS may result in substantial civil penalties.

Vehicles imported, distributed or sold in the United States must comply with both the FMVSS and U.S. federal emission standards, as defined by the EPA. In Canada, safety standards are defined by CMVSS and emissions are regulated by Environment and Climate Change Canada and Transport Canada.

While there are many similarities between FMVSS and CMVSS regulations, issues with self-certification still pose considerable complication when importing non-domestic vehicles. In the U.S. vehicles that do not conform to FMVSS or are absent an EPA emission label must be modified, tested and certified by an independent commercial importer (ICI), or otherwise exported or destroyed. Transport Canada's Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program maintains a list of makes and model permissible for importation. An approved model must have also satisfied any manufacturer recalls. An owner must also bear a clean title, an internal transaction number (ITN) and export the vehicle through U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Canada has made continued efforts to harmonize their emission requirements with U.S. EPA federal standards ever since the release of a 1996 report titled, “The Socio-Economic Impacts of Adopting Tighter Motor Vehicle Emission Standards and Fuel Requirements.” Following the release of this report, The Canadian Environmental Protection Act 1999 (CEPA 1999) gave Environment and Climate Change Canada along with Transport Canada authority over emission standards.

Canadian emission standards have lagged in implementation with respect to the EPA, but as of the 2017 vehicle model year, Canada has harmonized its emission requirements for on-road vehicles and engines with the U.S. EPA Tier 3 emission regulations. This was a goal of CEPA 1999, which is intended both to improve air quality and promote trade. These new regulations reduce air pollution from on-road vehicles, and a separate emission label is no longer needed for vehicles that already bear an EPA emissions label. Vehicles imported to the U.S. from Canada must, however, be affixed with a U.S. EPA emissions label explicitly.

CEPA 1999 clearly identified a need for tighter emission standards, and there are economic benefits for the manufacturer as a separate emission label is no longer needed for vehicles with an EPA emissions label. Vehicles imported to the U.S. from Canada, however, must be affixed with a U.S. EPA emissions label explicitly.

To facilitate importing European vehicles into Canada, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was finalized between Canada and Europe, and approved February 2017. It is a free-trade agreement that was designed to eliminate or reduce trade barriers between Canada and the member states of the EU. With this agreement, several UNECE regulations are now accepted by the CMVSS, including UN-compliant headlamps and bumpers. The agreement not only fosters trade but also addresses a joint commitment in the harmonization of vehicle regulations.

UNECE Regulations

The 1958 Agreement outlined uniform technical prescriptions for type approval of wheeled vehicles and their systems and components, which constitute the legal framework for ECE regulations. The agreement is now known formally as UN Regulations, as several non-European countries are now contracting parties to the agreement.

All contracting parties accept UNECE regulations type approval, meaning they share the same safety standards and vehicles are certified by an approval authority. Vehicles and components that are tested in compliance with UNECE regulations are marked. The marking protocol is denoted by the letter E followed by a numeral. The first numeric represents the approval authority, such as E1 for Germany.

Type approval under UNECE regulations contrasts to North American regulatory practices, which require self-certification. All contracting parties recognize UNECE certifications, regardless of the approval authority that certified the vehicle or component. Type approval not only facilitates international auto trade as it harmonizes vehicle regulations and alleviates manufacturers from performing self-certifications.

European Union emission standards are also differentiated from North America standards. They have different benchmark levels; no specific technologies are mandated to satisfy emission requirements; and there are separate bench test requirements for diesel vehicles, where larger concentrations of NOx emissions are permitted.

Market Challenges

Differences between North American and European automotive safety standards are a growing issue. Divergences in safety standards pose a larger hindrance to the international trade of vehicles and vehicle components than left-side and right-side drive requirements. Manufacturers continue to release models that never penetrate global markets as it is cost-prohibitive to redesign a vehicle for each respective market. Non-universal test methods and self-certifications also cause growing pains for advanced safety technologies. Following are two examples where differing regulations can lead to vehicles that cannot cross into non-domestic markets.

Although NHTSA has banned some popular European advanced safety technologies, like BMW’s Dynamic Light Spot, the agency currently recommends that new vehicles be equipped with several driver assistance technologies, including automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems and crash imminent braking (CIB) systems, but only if those systems meet NHTSA’s performance specifications. NHTSA’s recommended advanced safety features are not currently enforced through FMVSS regulations, although they do impact vehicle sales and market requirements.

General Safety Provisions working group of the UNCEC has approved a draft concerning regulations for blind spot information systems (BSISs). The proposal will require trucks greater than 3.5 tons to be equipped with a BSIS, which will be voted on in March 2019, and if accepted will become a requirement by October 2019.

Conclusion

Importing non-domestic vehicles currently presents significant challenges to automotive manufacturers engaged in North American markets. However, ongoing discussions of a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union could address today’s discrepancies between UNECE and FMVSS regulations. The effect that this trade agreement may have with international automotive markets is substantial and may provide benefits to all contracting parties, as exemplified by CETA. The case for universal safety testing procedures and regulations is also further strengthened as advanced safety technologies become standard on base model packages, as it is cost prohibitive to develop advanced safety technologies that are specific to a certain market.