. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/CAN/373 
22 October 2012  
 (12-5753) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  CANADA  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Department of Transport 
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 :   
Canadian Enquiry Point, 200-270 Albert St reet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1P 6N7 
Tel.: +1 613 238 3222, Fax:  +1 613 569 7808, E-mail:  enquirypoint@scc.ca  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 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 (Controls, 
Tell-tales, Indicators and Inte rior Lights)  (ICS:  43.040) 
5. Title, number of pages and langua ge(s) of the notified document:  Proposed Amendment 
to the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations (Interp retation and Standards 101, 105, 122 and 135)  
(18 pages, available in English and French)     
6. Description of content:  The proposed section 101 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations  
(MVSR), entitled Controls, Tell-tales, Indi cators and Interior Lights  and hereafter referred to 
as the Canadian safety standard, would harmonize Canadian re quirements with the 
corresponding United Stat es safety standard.  
The Department of Transport proposes to re voke the current Canadian safety standard 
regarding location and identification of contro ls and displays and introduce a new standard. 
The proposed Canadian safety standard would re fer to the Technical Standard Document that 
reproduces the latest United States safety standard; moreover, it would include necessary 
additions and clarifications to reflect Canadi an linguistic needs and to clearly state the 
requirements for interior lights in front of the driver.  
The proposed Canadian safety standard woul d require internationally adopted symbols 
instead of words to identify the controls, tell-tales and indicators. The use of words would be allowed in conjunction with the relevant symbol s required by the Canadian safety standard. 
Also, the proposed Canadian sa fety standard would require th at the identifications for the 
controls, tell-tales and indicators fitted in th e vehicle be explained in the owner's manual.  
Furthermore, as section 101 is referred to in sections 105, 122 and 135, it is proposed to 
amend these sections to ensure that references are accurate and that there are no contradictory requirements. G/TBT/N/CAN/373 
Page 2  
 
  The proposed amendment would improve drivers'  cognition of standardized international 
identification of controls, tell-tales and indicators needed for the safe operation of a vehicle. 
This would help to avoid mistakes in selecti on of controls and to improve identification of 
indicators and tell-tales. At the same time, by  requiring in the Canadian  safety standard the 
internationally established symbols identifying ve hicle controls, tell-tal es and indicators, the 
proposed amendment may help to minimize the design, manufacturing and financial burdens 
on manufacturers.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human safety  
The objective of this initiative is to increase  the safety level on Canadian roads while 
maintaining or enhancing the level of harmoni zation with the United States standard and 
maintaining requirements for identification of vehicle controls, tell-ta les and indicators by 
requiring internationally  recognized symbols rather than words. 
8. Relevant documents:   Canada Gazette , Part I, 6 October 2012, Pages 2833-2850 (Available 
in English and French)   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    Normally within 5 to 8 months of publication in 
the Canada Gazette , Part I. 
These Regulations come into force on the day 
on which they are published in the Canada 
Gazette , Part II. However, vehicles would be 
allowed to conform to the present requirements until September 1, 2014, to allow manufacturers and importers to adjust their product to the 
proposed changes. Vehicle manufacturers and 
importers are responsible for ensuring that their products conform to the requirements of the MVSR.  
10. Final date for comments:  20 December 2012 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addres ses, if available of the other body:   The electronic 
version of the regulatory text can be downloaded at:   
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2012 /2012-10-06/pdf/g1-14640.pdf#page=33   ( Canada 
Gazette ) 
or  http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/ p1/2012/2012-10-06/html/reg1-eng.html   (English)  
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/ p1/2012/2012-10-06/html/reg1-fra.html  (French) 
The TSD documents are available in English and French on Transport Canada's Web site: 
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/act s-regulations/regulations -crc-c1038.html