The European Commission is levelling aid with a view to assist European car makers gain better access to global markets while harmonising vehicle registration to facilitate the export of European cars to new emerging markets.

As a matter of priority, the European Commission is spearheading a reform of the 1958 agreement on international vehicle registration as was announced in the CARS 2020 action plan presented last November.

The reform proposal brings together the 27 EU member states represented by the Commission, Japan, the Russian Federation, South Korea, South Africa and Australia and is aimed at harmonising safety and environmental regulations for vehicles.

This initiative will establish a worldwide type approval for cars and will also enable carmakers to enjoy the benefits of lower compliance costs and economies of scale.

Vice-president Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said that this reform is expected to generate easy access to third markets and will act as a powerful tool to abolish non-tariff barriers in negotiations on free trade agreements with major trading partners.

The European Commission has also put forward a number of proposals to the World Forum for the Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations in Geneva which would permit emerging economies to adhere to the agreement without difficulty.

More information is available at http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/index_en.htm .

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