 1.
JASIC |
2.
International Harmonization of Regulations
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3.
WP29
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4.
1958 Agreement
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5.
1998 Agreement
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1.
JASIC
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1. When and for
what purpose was JASIC established? What are its activities? |
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1. Japan Automobile
Standards Internationalization Center (JASIC) was
established in 1987 by joint efforts of government
and industry for the purpose of supporting activities
to promote internationalization of governmental
standards and certification system for motor vehicles.
For details of its activities, click here.
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2. What types
of materials are published by JASIC and how are they
made available? |
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2. The following materials
are published by JASIC:
(1) Automotive Regulations Information System (fee-based)
Subscribers of this service can access to vehicle
regulations of Europe, the United States and Australia,
including UN/ECE Regulations, whose significance
is increasingly acknowledged in terms of global
harmonization of standards. The regulations are
available both in English and Japanese. Click here
for details.
(2) Automobile Type Approval Handbook for Japanese
Certification (fee-based)
All automobile regulations in Japan have been put
on one CD-ROM, enabling an easy access to a variety
of information. Click here
for details.
(3) Japan's Country Report (fee-based)
This report provides comprehensive information on
Japanese vehicle regulation system, safety and environmental
standards, inspection and maintenance systems and
so on through easy-to-understand examples. Click
here
for details.
(4) Status of Uniform Vehicle Regulations at UN
(fee-based)
(5) Pamphlets on Harmonization of Regulations (free)
These pamphlets present a simple explanation of
the UN agreement concerning the mutual recognition
of approvals (1958 Agreement) and the UN agreement
concerning global technical regulations for vehicles,
etc. (1998 Agreement). Click here
for details.
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3. What regulations
of which countries are provided by JASIC? |
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3. Japanese vehicle
regulations (translated into English), UN/ECE Regulations,
EU Directives, the United States standards (on safety
and emissions), and Australian Design Rules are
available. Click here
for details.
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2.
International Harmonization of Regulations
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1. Why has each
country or region developed its own unique automobile
regulations over the years? |
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1. International standards
have long been established for airplanes and ships,
which often travel across and between continents
and whose operations would be greatly hindered if
each country had its own unique safety and environmental
standards. On the other hand, there has been little
need to consider across-the-ocean or across-the-border
operations of automobiles since they are only used
on land and usually in a relatively limited local
area. For this reason, each country or region has
developed its own vehicle standards according to
its local traffic infrastructure and its own accident/environment
realities.
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2. What are the
merits of regulation harmonization? Why is it more
widely recognized in recent years? |
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2. The merits of international
regulation harmonization include the reduction of
development and production costs on the part of manufacturers
and the expansion of choices on the part of consumers.
The former can be achieved when design specifications
of vehicles are unified by regulation harmonization
and thus more common parts and components may be used
for vehicles to be sold in different parts of the
world. The latter becomes possible when certification
procedures of each country are simplified by regulation
harmonization and hence more vehicles are introduced
into markets of different countries/regions. In addition,
as vehicle manufacturers' operations are being expanded
globally, the role of regulation harmonization in
ensuring smooth trading of vehicles between nations
is increasingly recognized. |
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3. What are issues
to be addressed in achieving harmonization of regulations? |
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3. We are facing common
global problems such as environment and safety.
Nevertheless, climate, culture, and technology vary
significantly from country to country. If all standards
of all countries were simply put together into a
single global regulation, then some countries might
end up having to waste social resources without
gaining any benefit. Therefore, it is necessary
to create reasonable and effective standards while
taking each country's situations into consideration;
for example, performance requirements should be
more focused on than structural requirements, and
standards should be based on reasonable study results.
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3.
WP29
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1. What is WP29? |
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1. Its official name
is World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.
It is the only body within the United Nations to
discuss the global harmonization of regulations.
UN/ECE Regulations and global technical regulations
(gtr) are formulated at WP29.
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2. How is WP29
organized? |
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2. Click here
for its organizational chart.
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4.
1958 Agreement
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1. What is 1958
Agreement? |
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1. Its official name
is Agreement Concerning the Adoption of Uniform
Technical Prescriptions for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment
and Parts Which Can Be Fitted and/or Be Used on
Wheeled Vehicles and the Conditions for Reciprocal
Recognition of Approvals Granted on the Basis of
These Prescriptions. This is a multinational treaty
of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
signed in 1958. Its purposes are to establish the
uniform provisions on safety and environment performance
of vehicle structures and equipment and to facilitate
reciprocal recognition of approvals for such structures
and equipment. Under the 1958 Agreement, regulations
concerning vehicle structures and equipment ("UN/ECE
Regulations") are laid down. These regulations
are formulated and/or revised at UN/ECE/WP29 in
concert with the latest social needs and technological
development. In 1995, the Agreement was amended
in response to demands for ensuring the transparency
of the discussion forum and improving its voting
system with a view to accepting non-European Contracting
Parties. Following the amendment, non-European countries such as Japan, South Africa and Australia have also acceded to the Agreement.
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2. What are the
merits of acceding to the 1958 Agreement? |
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2. Both industry and
government will benefit. Manufacturers of a Contracting
Party do not have to change design specifications
of their vehicles for each country and can use the
common parts and components for vehicles to be sold
in different countries, which enables them to develop
and produce vehicles at lower cost. Also, the government
of a Contracting Party can process the inspection
of vehicles in a more efficient manner by using
the simplified certification procedures.
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3. If a country
becomes a Contracting Party to the 1958 Agreement,
does it have to accept all of the UN/ECE Regulations? |
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3. Contracting Parties
can optionally adopt UN/ECE Regulations. Contracting
Parties may mutually recognize approvals, but it
is limited to the equipment for which they have
adopted the relevant UN/ECE Regulations. Japan has
been adopting UN/ECE Regulations while assuring
that environment and safety are the top priority.
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4. What rights
and obligations are assigned to Contracting Parties
to the 1958 Agreement? |
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4. Contracting Parties
to the 1958 Agreement have the voting right in establishing
and revising the UN/ECE Regulations. In addition,
Contracting Parties may adopt the Regulations optionally
for each equipment. They have the right to issue
a certificate for equipment after confirming its
conformity to the relevant adopted Regulation and
the other Contracting Parties that have adopted
the same Regulation have the obligation to accept
such certificate.
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5.
Which countries are Contracting Parties to the 1958
Agreement? |
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5. As of March 2006,
46 countries have acceded to the Agreement. Click
here for
more on the Contracting Parties.
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6. Do Contracting
Parties to the 1958 Agreement need to have testing
facilities? |
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6. The government
of a Contracting Party does not need to have its
own testing facilities. For example, the qualified
third-party testing laboratories inside or outside
of its country or manufacturers' facilities may
be used.
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5.
1998 Agreement
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1. What is 1998
Agreement? |
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1. Its official name
is Agreement Concerning the Establishing of Global
Technical Regulations for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment
and Parts Which Can Be Fitted and/or Be Used on
Wheeled Vehicles. The purposes of the 1998 Agreement
are to establish global technical regulations (gtr)
concerning safety, environment, fuel economy and
theft prevention performance of motor vehicles and
to implement these regulations in line with the
uniform provisions of UN/ECE Regulations. In other
words, the 1998 Agreement takes into consideration
those nations that are employing "self-certification
system," in which manufacturers guarantee the
conformity of their vehicles to relevant safety
standards and the government confirm the conformity
of vehicles after they are placed on the market.
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2. What rights
and obligations are assigned to Contracting Parties
to the 1998 Agreement? |
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2. Contracting Parties
to the 1998 Agreement have the voting right in establishing
and revising the global technical regulations (gtr).
Contracting Parties may adopt the global technical
regulations (gtr) optionally for each equipment
and incorporate them into their national standards.
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3. Which countries
are Contracting Parties to the 1998 Agreement? |
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3. As of June 2006,
28 countries have acceded to the Agreement. Click
here
for more on the Contracting Parties.
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4. What is the
future of a relationship between global technical
regulations (gtr) and UN/ECE Regulations? |
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4. Global technical
regulations (gtr) and UN/ECE Regulations are expected
to incorporate newly-established provisions of each
other into its own provisions. This makes it possible
to harmonize regulations with countries employing
the self-certification system. However, certification
system prescribed in the UN/ECE Regulations, i.e.,
the system in which the government checks and guarantees
the performance of vehicles, is not included in
the global technical regulations (gtr).
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