WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.96.236
1August 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-3074)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: CANADA
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department ofTransport
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Motor vehicle restraint
systems andbooster cushions
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Regulations
Respecting Motor Vehicle Equipment forUseintheRestraint ofChildren andDisabled
Persons (pages 1948-1991)
6. Description ofcontent: ThenewMotor Vehicle Safety Act,which came intoforce on
12April 1995, gives theDepartment ofTransport explicit authority toregulate "add-on"
motor vehicle restraint equipment, which isinstalled after purchase byusers. At
present, therequirements governing add-on restraint equipment arecontained inthe
Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations (MVSR) under Sections 213,213.1, and213.3. These
Sections areentitled Child Restraint Systems, Infant Seating andRestraint Systems,
Booster Cushions, andRestraint Systems forDisable Persons, respectively. Since the
purpose oftheMVSRs istospecify safety standards formotor vehicles andtheir
components, which donotnormally included add-on restraint equipment, aseparate
body ofregulations entitled theRegulations Respecting Motor Vehicle Equipment forUse
intheRestraint ofChildren andDisabled Persons isbeing created. Theshort titlewill
be:theMotor Vehicle Restraint Systems andBooster Cushions Safety Regulations .
Theproposed Regulations willincorporate thesame technical standards now
contained intheMVSRs; however, pursuant tonewrequirements imposed bytheMotor
Vehicle Safety Act,they willalsospecify anumber ofadditional provisions ofa
non-technical nature. Oneisthatanycompany wishing toaffixanational safety mark to
restraint equipment mustapply totheMinister ofTransport forauthorization intheform
setoutinSchedule IoftheRegulations. Inaddition, records relating tothedesign,
manufacture, testing, andfieldperformance ofrestraint equipment mustbekeptbyoron
behalf ofacompany forfiveyears afterthedateoftheequipment 'smanufacture, and
these records must bemade available toaninspector within 30working daysofthedate
oftherequest. TheRegulations alsospecify requirements governing theregistration
system bywhich purchasers maybeidentified, thedocumentation required inorder to
import restraint equipment, andtheinformation thatNotices ofDefect andthefollow-up
reports totheMinister must contain.
./.G/TBT/Notif.96.236
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Protection ofhuman safety
8. Relevant documents: Canada Gazette, Part1,13July1996
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:Notstated
10. Final dateforcomments: 11October 1996
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: