Regulatory Insights - EFS Consulting

Product Compliance & Automotive Regulatory

We identify and keep track of worldwide regulatory changes with the focus on areas such as:

product compliance, product safety, vehicle type approval and homologation, import restrictions, international trade law, radio certification, material compliance, chemistry, environmental regulations, electric vehicles, cybersecurity and autonomous driving.

Below you will find an excerpt of the world News on regulations from these areas.
Please contact us for a comprehensive overview of the topic or specific countries.

Due diligence for supply chains in the EU and Germany

New requirements for due diligence requirements in supply chains regarding human rights and the environment in the EU and Germany are taking shape.

Supply chains have been in focus in recent months, not only because of the huge disruptions caused by COVID-19. In the first half of 2020, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, announced that in 2021 the European Commission would propose legislation on mandatory corporate due diligence with regards to human rights and environmental risks across supply chains of big businesses

New mandatory standards in Morocco

Morocco has published several new mandatory NM standards and updated a couple of existing ones

The Ministry of Industry, Trade, Green, and Digital Economy has published a new Order in the Official Bulletin which makes 40 new Moroccan Standards (NM, norme marocaine) mandatory and updates 25 other existing standards.

Central African Republic launches a new PVoC program

A Pre-Verification of Conformity (PVoC) of Imported Goods to the Central African Republic (CAR) is expected to start in March 2021

The program is similar to those in several other African countries. It consists of conformity assessment services for exporters of goods to the CAR performed by an external accredited agency to verify and confirm that those products meet relevant national and/or international quality standards.

New import regulations published in Turkey

Updates of Turkish import regulations have been published

The Turkish Ministry of Trade published new versions regulations on product groups supervised in imports. The regulations (called “Communiqués on Product Safety and Inspection”) are updated every year and define which groups of products are subject to the registration in the Turkish risk-based import control system TAREKS.

European Parliament in favor of “Right to Repair”

395 MEPs voted to support the “right to repair” resolution which is expected to simplify the repair process of consumers’ products and promote sustainability in the European Union.

The European Parliament is planning on promoting overall sustainability in the European Union by improving the life span and repairability of consumer products. According to a Eurobarometer survey, 77% of EU citizens stated that they prefer to have their devices repaired instead of replaced and 79% stated that manufacturers should be obliged to simplify the repair process for consumers’ devices.

Product conformity and vehicle regulations after Brexit

What are the main provisions of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement with regard to product conformity and vehicle regulations?

Fortunately, the EU and UK managed to reach a last-minute agreement before Christmas and an orderly Brexit was ensured. Unfortunately, contrary to what some hoped, CE will not be accepted in UK in the future anymore and products will have to bear a special UKCA conformity mark. On the other hand, at least, Great Britain made a commitment to further accept the UNECE regulations for vehicles and their parts.

Brexit – what’s next?

A new European Commission’s Communication summarizes the main changes after the Brexit transition period on 1 January 2021 – unfortunately, there are still many unknowns

Recently, the European Commission published its Communication entitled “Getting ready for changes – Communication on readiness at the end of the transition period between the European Union and the United Kingdom”, in which it described the main changes in the EU-UK relations which will take place starting from 2021. The document covers the impact of the Brexit on different sectors and helps businesses to prepare for it.

New lists of products subject to TAREKS

Updates of Turkish import regulations have been published

The Turkish Ministry of Trade published new versions regulations on product groups supervised in imports. The regulations (called “communiqués”) are updated every year and define which groups of products are subject to the registration in the Turkish risk-based import control system TAREKS.

INMETRO and ANATEL also react to COVID-19

Special measures for re-certification were announced by INMETRO. Also ANATEL announced measures to ease the renewal process for radio equipment

At the beginning of March 2020, the Brazilian regulator for product safety INMETRO published the Ordinance 79 whose aim is to facilitate the re-certification process of products disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Safety Glass subject to the Indian BIS certification

Safety Glass for road transport will be made subject to the Indian BIS certification and marking requirements

According to a recent Bureau of Indian Standards notification, Safety Glass for road transport will be added to the list of products subject to the compulsory use of the Indian standard mark and the BIS certification. The requirements will entry into force 180 days from the date of the publication of the Safety Glass (Quality Control) Order, 2020 in the official Gazette.