G/TBT/N/EU/584  
 
17 July 2018  
(18-4491) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member: EUROPEAN UNION   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible: European Commission  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
European Commission  
EU-TBT Enquiry Point  
Fax: +(32) 2 299 80 43  
E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools -databases/tbt/en/   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  ], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [X], 5.7.1 [  ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Motor 
vehicles, trailers, two - and three -wheeled vehicles, quadricycles, agricultural and forestry 
vehicles, syste ms, components, technical units and engines for use in non -road mobile 
machinery  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Proposal for a 
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council complementing EU type -approval 
legislation with regard to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union 
(COM(2018) 397 final) (12 page(s), in English)   
6. Description of content: The United Kingdom on 29 March 2017 submitted the 
notification of its intention to withdraw from the Uni on pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty 
on European Union. This means that, unless a ratified withdrawal agreement establishes 
another date, all Union primary and secondary law will cease to apply to the United 
Kingdom from 30 March 2019, ('the withdrawal date').  The United Kingdom will then 
become a third country.  
Subject to any transitional arrangement that may be contained in a possible withdrawal 
agreement, the EU legislative framework governing type approval for a number of products 
will no longer app ly to the United Kingdom as of the withdrawal date, notably:  
 Directive 2007/46/EC concerning the type -approval of motor vehicles and trailers 
(to be replaced by a Regulation which will be applicable as from 1 September 
2020);  
 Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 concerning the type -approval of two - and three -
wheeled vehicles and quadricycles;  
 Regulation (EU) No 167/2013 concerning the type -approval of agricultural and 
forestry vehicles; and  G/TBT/N/EU/584  
 
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   Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 concerning the type -approval of engines for use  in 
non-road mobile machinery.  
This also means that the United Kingdom type -approval authority will cease to be an EU 
type-approval authority and will no longer be able to fulfil any of the powers and 
obligations of a type -approval authority under EU legi slation. Manufacturers who obtained 
approvals in the United Kingdom in the past will thus need to obtain new approvals from 
EU-27 type -approval authorities, including for products already in production, in order to 
ensure continued compliance with EU legis lation and retain access to the Union market.  
While the legal framework for these products sets procedural requirements harmonising 
the way in which type -approvals are granted across the EU, some safeguards make it 
difficult for relevant manufacturers to t ake the necessary measures to ensure regulatory 
compliance and business continuity after the EU acquis ceases to apply to the United 
Kingdom.  
This creates significant legal uncertainty for manufacturers with United Kingdom type -
approvals. The present propo sal aims to address this by modifying temporarily and in a 
very targeted manner the existing rules to allow concerned manufacturers to obtain new 
EU-27 approvals that replace their existing UK type -approved products.  
The provisions proposed in the proposa l will not lower the requirements regarding the 
safety or environmental performance of the vehicles, systems, components or separate 
technical units. It will not grant any advantages to manufacturers with UK type -approvals, 
compared to manufacturers with E U-27 type -approvals. The initiative will simply allow 
manufacturers to continue producing their products in compliance with applicable legal 
requirements without interrupting their existing production, which could have caused 
significant social and economi c impacts. In facilitating manufacturers ' compliance with EU 
law, the initiative will also ensure the protection of consumers and citizens.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable: With a view to improve legal uncertainty for manufacturers with United 
Kingdom type -approvals, this proposal:  
 Explicitly allows concerned manufacturers to apply to an EU -27 type -approval 
authority for new approvals for existing types;  
 Allows that tests un derpinning the UK type approvals do not have to be repeated 
because the technical service was not designated and notified by the EU -27 type -
approval authority before;  
 Provides that such approvals may be granted if the requirements for new vehicles, 
systems , components and separate technical units are met rather than those for 
new types;  
 Proposes to help identify new type -approval authorities for those products already 
on the market prior to the withdrawal, to avoid that no authority would be in 
charge of ca rrying out in -service conformity checks or issuing a possible future 
recall.  
8. Relevant documents:   
Directive 2007/46/EC : https://eur -lex.europa.eu/leg al-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1528987042508&uri=CELEX:32007L0046  
Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 : https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1528987090952& uri=CELEX:32013R0168  
Regulation (EU) No 167/2013 : https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1528987195631&uri=CELEX:32013R0167  
Regulation  (EU) 2016/1628 : https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1528987239562&uri=CELEX:32016R1628   G/TBT/N/EU/584  
 
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  9. Proposed date of adoption:  End of 2018  
Propo sed date of entry into force:  On the day of publication in the Official Journal of 
the EU  
10. Final date for comments: 60 days from notification  
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [  ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body:   
European Commission,  
EU-TBT Enquiry Point,  
Fax: + (32) 2 299 80 43,  
E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
 
The text is available on the EU -TBT Website : http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools -
databases/tbt/en/  
https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2018:0397:FIN  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/TBT/EEC/18_3788_00_e.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/TBT/EEC/18_3788_00_f.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/TBT/EEC/18_3788_00_s.pdf