Accession of the EU to the UN-ECE Agreement in the Automobile sector
The EU's accession to the revised 1958 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) Agreement in the automobile sector comes into force on 24 March 1998. This Agreement establishes uniform technical regulations for motor vehicles, equipment and parts. It also sets out conditions for reciprocal recognition of approvals granted on the basis of technical regulations. Accession to the Agreement will help avoid parallel regulatory costs and benefit both industry and consumers. It also guarantees a high level of safety and environmental protection across the EU and in third countries. The EU, as a contracting party to the Agreement, will participate fully in the regulatory work undertaken by the working party on construction of vehicles. This working party will contribute technically to keeping the EU's vehicle type approval system up-to-date. The revision of the Agreement in 1995 made it possible for regional integration organizations such as the EU to become contracting parties. Fourteen of the EU's Member States which were already party to the Agreement will retain this status, although the EU will exercise their votes as a bloc. Other parties to the Agreement include a large number of Central and Eastern European countries, the Russian Federation, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, while Japan has initiated procedures to join.