European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval                                                                   

ECWVTA

Motor vehicles intended for the carriage of goods or passengers must comply with certain mandatory technical requirements. It is the established practice of the Member States to check that vehicles comply with the relevant technical requirements before they are placed on the market, and this check is carried out on vehicle types. By introducing a community type-approval procedure for each vehicle type, Member States recognize checks carried out by other Member States. The type-approval procedure enables each Member State to issue type-approval certificates in respect of vehicles which conform to an approved type. In accordance with framework Directive 2007/46/EC, the EC approval mark for Ireland is e24.

Each Member State informs the other Member States of its findings by sending a copy of the type-approval certificate for each vehicle type which it has approved. The harmonized technical requirements applicable to individual parts and characteristics of a vehicle are specified in separate EC Directives. There are over 50 separate EC Directives covering vehicles. Type-approval is granted by an Approval Authority, and the Irish Approval Authority for this scheme is NSAI.

Each Member State must permit the marketing in their own territory of products conforming to the requirements of the applicable Directive. Approvals granted in one Member State under the Directive must be recognized in all other Member States.