New technical regulations for Turkey’s automotive sector

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Tansu Akin
Akin, Istanbul
tansu@akin.av.tr

The Regulation on Approval and Market Surveillance of Motor Vehicles and their Trailers (the ‘MARTOY’ as its abbreviation in Turkish, or the ‘new Regulation’) was published in the Official Gazette on 19 April 2020.^[1] The new Regulation has been adapted based on the European Union’s new Directive No 2018/858/EC.^[2]

This Regulation essentially regulates the administrative provisions and technical requirements for the type-approvals and placing on the market of all passenger (Category M) and light commercial vehicles (Category N) and their trailers (Category O), and their systems, components and separate technical units. In other words, it determines both how the automotive industry will be shaped and how it will work. The new version of the regulation will come into force on 1 September 2020 in line with EU’s Directive. The current regulation provisions will continue to be applied until that date.

Former MARTOY, with the full name of Regulation on Type Approval of Motor Vehicles and Trailers (2007/46/EC), was also the facsimile of the EU’s Directive No 2007/46/EC, 5 September 2007. It established a framework for the approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles.

With more than 1,000 component suppliers supporting the production of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Turkey is home to many global suppliers. Almost three-quarters of the production in Turkey is destined for foreign markets, making Turkey the biggest vehicle exporter to European markets with one million units in an ordinary year.

In order to meet global as well as EU technical requirements, Turkey follows strict technical legislation in manufacturing and automotive industries. The secondary legislation is very much identical to the EU’s Acquis Communautaire, which is automatically incorporated into local regulations, just as the primary legislation follows the similar approach and mind-set.

The EU’s Acquis is embedded into national regulations of its Member States, as in MARTOY, while in especially detailed technical areas, EU and UN regulations are automatically applicable as national legislation.

As MARTOY has the backbone of the automotive industry, it is inevitable that the New Regulation should also follow EU legislation. Therefore, it is natural that the changes in the EU’s automotive production rules are reflected in Turkey’s technical regulations.

At the start of 2016, before the diesel emissions scandal had erupted, the European Commission had begun work on amending the 2007/46 regulation. The diesel scandal intensified the need for amendments. All these discussions finally came to a conclusion with Directive No 2018/858/EC which was published in the EU’s Official Journal on 14 June 2018.

Directive No 2018/858/EC will enter into force on 1 September 2020. Member States and, as a result, automotive manufacturers (and their supplier base) will be able to conclude applications for components, systems and type approvals under the new regulation from 5 July 2020.

Details of EU Directive No 2018/585/EC and MARTOY

The new regulation lays down rules on technical requirements and procedures across the EU to ensure that new types of motor vehicles and trailers comply with EU-approved safety and environmental protection. Turkey, being outside of the EU but within its Customs Union, is affected at this point. Any type approval for a complete vehicle or a system or component that bears the stamp of an EU Member State is valid in Turkey. Yet, a manufacturer may acquire a Turkish national type approval for Turkish or non-EU markets.

Although the regulation does not contain significant changes in technical requirements applicable to vehicles, systems and components, it includes major revisions to applicable processes and procedures and introduces a number of additional controls, ensuring a robust type approval process. In addition to specifying individual EU Regulations and UN ECE regulations with which vehicles, systems and components must comply, it regulates issues such as type approval documents (information documents, type approval certificates, certificate of conformity) and production compliance requirements.

The most significant change to the current MARTOY and Directive No 2007/46/EC refers to the issuance of the type approvals, in order to establish sound measures to avoid repeating a ‘diesel-gate’ scandal. Under current regulations, type approvals were given mainly through prototypes provided at the stages of production or before. The new regulation introduces a stronger market surveillance mechanism that the former system may not have served well, a lesson learnt from the diesel emissions scandal.

In this respect, it is worth mentioning that following the EU’s experience and practice, the Turkish side has taken a number of steps and adapted the new Law No 7223 on Product Safety and Technical Regulations,^[3] replacing Law No 4703 on Technical Legislation and introduced the Market Surveillance Regulation of the Ministry of Trade.^[4] The new set of regulations also form part of a set of other legislative measures, including the Council of Ministers’ Regulation on Market Surveillance and Inspection of the Products, No 2001/3529, and the Ministry of Industry’s Regulation on Market Surveillance and Inspection of Automotive Products. In this way: the framework of effective market surveillance; regular inspection of vehicles already introduced to the market; and, sharing of these control results with the public, are integrated into the legislation.

It is clear that the testing and inspection of a vehicle or its components or systems is key to the entire process. This crucial function is performed by technical services. This system, which already exists in the current MARTOY, is further strengthened by the new regulation. In the diesel emissions scandal, it was observed that technical services were able to produce misleading results. Under the new regulation, a strict set of performance criteria and an independent auditing system have been introduced for granting and maintaining technical services and the authority to test and inspect vehicles, components and systems. This authority given in the European Directive to the European Commission and Member States will be carried out in Turkey by the Ministry of Industry according to Turkey’s national legislation.

The regulation also requires that manufacturers allow access to external controls in a vehicle’s software protocol, including the banning of defeat devices (which can detect when they are being tested), which was one of the most important factors in the diesel emissions scandal.

The most significant points in the new MARTOY, which is the transposition of the European Directive are as follows:

Approval authority

As in the past, in accordance with the European Directive, each Member State is required to appoint an approval authority responsible for type approvals and an agency responsible for market surveillance. Where an institution is responsible for both activities, roles and responsibilities need to be rigorously separated and the two activities should be managed autonomously as part of separate structures. Each Member State is also obliged to review and evaluate the functioning of the type approval authority and market surveillance agency at least once every four years and to communicate the results of this assessment to the Commission. This duty and authority with MARTOY belongs to the Ministry of Industry.

Assessment of type approval bodies

The European Commission will evaluate the procedures applied by each type approval agency to issue type approvals, ensure the suitability of production, and identify and monitor technical services, publishing the results of these assessments every five years. Turkey also agrees with this assessment of the principle of reciprocity within the new MARTOY.

Identification, monitoring and review of technical services

The European Directive and the new MARTOY introduce detailed regulations to ensure the competence, impartiality and independence of Technical Services. The Technical Service applications will be evaluated by the respective type approval authority, together with two other type approval authorities and an evaluation team comprised of the European Commission. The assignment of the technical service will be valid for five years, after which the evaluation application needs to be repeated. In addition, during the appointment period, the type approval authority will continuously monitor the performance of the technical service and evaluate it at least every 30 months.

Information sharing and execution forum

The European Directive created an Implementation Information Exchange Forum within the EU, which will be attended by representatives of Member States' type approval authorities and market surveillance institutions. The Forum deals with best practice, enforcement issues, interpretation issues, inter alia. It is responsible for exchanging information and coordinating sanctions such as compliance verification testing. With the lessons learnt from the diesel emissions scandal, the Forum aims to provide a more homogeneous interpretation of the legislation, transparency in cases of non-compliance, and better and coordinated market surveillance activities. Turkey has also adopted this forum into its national legislation.

Market surveillance

New requirements on market surveillance have been introduced to ensure that vehicles and components, introduced into the market complying with type approval requirements, are safe and are not harmful to the environment. Each market surveillance agency is required to conduct at least one conformity verification test and at least five conformity verification tests per year for every 40,000 new motor vehicles registered in the country during the preceding year. For market surveillance agencies performing more than five compliance verification tests per year, at least 20 per cent of the tests must be emission tests. Turkey has also joined in this cooperation with the precedent that it has sufficient infrastructure and integration with the European Commission and its Member States.

Responsibilities of manufacturers, representatives, importers and distributors

The new MARTOY more specifically defines the specific responsibilities of manufacturers, manufacturers’ representatives, importers and distributors for both type approval procedure and market surveillance.

Frequency of compliance with production controls

The new regulation obliges manufacturers to carry out compliance checks and tests at least once every three years.

Validity of all vehicle type approval documents

New MARTOY requires that the type approvals information package is revalidated for compliance with the applicable legislation if the type approval information package has not been updated for seven years for category M1 (passenger cars) and N1 (light commercial vehicles, which are also used as passenger cars in Turkey under the market dynamics) and for ten years for other categories of vehicle.

Safety measures and recall

The new regulation provides more detailed provisions on safety measures such as restriction of placing the vehicle into the market or recalls and coordination of those activities. The provisions also allow the European Commission to implement safety measures and initiate EU-wide recalls. The new MARTOY allows the integration of Turkish Ministry of Industry into EU systems, including rapid information exchange system (RAPEX) and information and communication system for market surveillance (ICSMS).

Access to repair and maintenance information

Existing regulations for accessing internal, on-board diagnostics (OBD) system information and other repair and maintenance information for independent operators are re-identified under the new European Directive as well as the new MARTOY. The manufacturers will provide independent operators with unlimited, standardised and fair access to OBD information, diagnostics and other equipment, software tools, including full references and current downloads of applicable software and vehicle repair and maintenance information. This information will be available for machine reading and presented in an easily accessible format.

Penalties

The European Directive introduces a proportionate and dissuasive penalty arrangement, with fines of up to €30,000 per vehicle, component or system that carries nonconformity; whereas the new MARTOY leaves such measures under the existing legislation of Law No 4703 and the market surveillance regulations.

The new MARTOY in short, moves one step ahead with regard to the responsibility of the automotive manufacturers and the legislators and the protection of consumers and the environment. With stricter rules on monitoring, surveillance, testing and approval of new motor vehicles and their parts and increased responsibility for manufacturers, their representatives, importers and distributors, it clearly draws on lessons learnt from past experiences in the automotive industry.

Turkey’s new regulation will come into effect on 1 September 2020, the same date as the European Directive, but the type, component and system approvals issued under the current MARTOY will continue to be valid.

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