Vehicle type approval

Vehicle type approval
Many industrial sectors are subject to some form of approval or certification system but road vehicles are a special case,because of their importance to and impact upon society,and have been subject to specific technical standards almost from their first invention. Within Europe,two systems of type approval have been in existence for over 20 years. One is based around EC Directives and provides for the approval of whole vehicles, vehicle systems and separate components. The other is based around ECE (United Nations)
Regulations and provides for approval of vehicle systems and separate components,but not whole vehicles.
Type approval is the confirmation that production samples of a design will meet specified per- formance standards. The specification of the product is recorded and only that specification is approved.
Automotive EC Directives and ECE Regulations require third party approval – testing,certification and production conformity assessment by an inde- pendent body. Each member state is required to appoint an Approval Authority to issue the approvals and a Technical Service to carry out the testing to the Directives and Regulations. An approval issued by one Authority will be accepted in all the member states. Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) is the designated UK Approval
Authority and Technical Service for all type of approvals to automotive EC Directives and ECE Regulations. The VCA also has offices in Europe, North America and the far East. pproved parts carry the E-mark. That is a letter ‘e’ or ‘CE’ followed by a number which indicates the country of approval.
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