. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CAN/252 
22 September 2008 
 (08-4410) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   CANADA  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Department of Transport 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
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 Street, Ottawa, Onta rio, 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 vehicle head 
restraints (ICS: 43.040) 
5. Title, number of pages and langua ge(s) of the notified document:   Proposed Amendment 
to the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations (Head Restraints) (5 pages, available in English 
and French) 
6. Description of content:    
This proposed amendment to standard 202 (Head Restraints) of Schedule IV of the Motor 
Vehicle Safety Regulations  (MVSR), hereafter referred to as the Canadian safety standard, 
would update the requirements for head rest raints of passenger cars and three-wheeled 
vehicles and every truck, bus or multi-purpo se passenger vehicle with a gross vehicle 
weight rating of 4 536 kg or less. This pr oposed amendment would provide vehicle 
occupants improved protection from neck injuries in the event of a collision. In addition to providing improved occupant protec tion, this regulatory update is necessary to minimize the 
burden to manufacturers caused by misa ligned North American regulations.  
 
This proposed amendment is a first step to wards the expected international harmonization 
of requirements for head restraints. This  proposed amendment would harmonize the 
requirements in the Canadian safety standard  with the corresponding safety standard 202, 
Title 49, Part 571 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations . Work is currently well 
underway to develop similar international safety requirements for head restraints and when 
this work is completed it is expected that  the world regulatory requirements for head 
restraints would be aligned.  G/TBT/N/CAN/252 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human safety 
8. Relevant documents:   Canada Gazette , Part I, 13 September 2008, Pages 2615-2619 
(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  
10. Final date for comments:   27 November 2008 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
The electronic version of the regulator y text can be downloaded at:   
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2008/20080913/pdf/g1-14237.pdf (Canada Gazette ) 
or  http://canadagazette.gc.ca/part I/2008/20080913/html/regle2-e.html#k102
 (English)   
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2008/20080913/html/regle2-f.html  (French)