1 The Contracting Parties shall establish, through an Administrative Committee made
up of all the Contracting Parties in conformity with the rules of procedure set out
in the Appendix to this Agreement and on the basis of the following articles, paragraphs,
UN Regulations for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts which can be fitted and/or
be used on wheeled vehicles. Conditions for granting type approvals and their reciprocal
recognition will be included for use by Contracting Parties which choose to implement
Regulations through type approval.
For the purposes of this Agreement:
The term “wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts” shall include any wheeled vehicles,
equipment and parts whose characteristics have a bearing on vehicle safety, protection
of the environment, energy saving and the performance of anti-theft technology.
The term “type approval pursuant to a UN Regulation” indicates an administrative procedure
by which the approval authorities of one Contracting Party declare, after carrying
out the required verifications that a type of vehicle, equipment or part submitted
by the manufacturer conforms to the requirements of the given UN Regulation. Afterwards
the manufacturer certifies that each vehicle, equipment or parts put on the market
were produced to be identical with the approved product.
The term “whole vehicle type approval” indicates that type approvals granted pursuant
to applicable UN Regulations for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts of a vehicle
are integrated into an approval of the whole vehicle according to the provisions of
the administrative IWVTA system.
The term “version of a UN Regulation” indicates that a UN Regulation, following its
adoption and establishment, may subsequently be amended following the procedures described
in this Agreement, in particular Article 12. The unamended UN Regulation as well as the UN Regulation, after integration of subsequent
amendment(s), are considered to be separate versions of that UN Regulation.
The term “applying a UN Regulation” indicates that a UN Regulation enters into force
for a Contracting Party. When doing so, Contracting Parties have the possibility to
keep their own national/regional legislation. If they wish, they may substitute their
national/regional legislation by the requirements of the UN Regulations they are applying,
but they are not bound by the Agreement to do so. However, Contracting Parties shall
accept, as an alternative to the relevant part of their national/regional legislation,
UN type approvals granted pursuant to the latest version of UN Regulations applied
in their country/region. The rights and obligations of Contracting Parties applying
a UN Regulation are detailed in the various articles of this Agreement.
For the application of the UN Regulations there could be various administrative procedures
alternative to type approval. The only alternative procedure generally known and applied
in certain member States of the Economic Commission for Europe is the self-certification
by which the manufacturer certifies, without any preliminary administrative control,
that each product put on the market conforms to the given UN Regulation; the competent
administrative authorities may verify by random sampling on the market that the self-certified
products comply with the requirements of the given UN Regulation.