UEIL News EU PUBLIC AFFAIRS
The long awaited repair and maintenance information (RMI) study by the EU Commission is out.
A month after the foreseen deadline the long awaited study on RMI by the Ricardo-AEA for the European Commission has been released. UEIL amongst many other stakeholders provided input to this study.
The aim of this study is to assess the operation of the system of access to vehicle repair and maintenance information (RMI) in the European Union, as well as its effects on competition, the internal market, environment and safety. The ‘Study on the operation of the system of access to vehicle repair and maintenance information’ was published on 26 November 2014.
It is generally recognised that there is fierce competition between vehicle manufacturers in the market for new car sales. However, once a vehicle has been purchased, competition on the markets for repair and maintenance is less intense. Thus, independent operators are needed to increase consumer choice and provide competition for vehicle manufacturer networks in the aftermarket. This is expected to lead to lower costs to consumers for repair and maintenance, which are thought to represent a significant share of total consumer expenditure on motor vehicles.
In order to compete in the vehicle repair market, independent operators must be able to access vehicle repair and maintenance information (RMI). Vehicle RMI is required to carry out a very broad range of operations related to maintaining a car throughout its lifetime. This technical information is increasingly important due to the greater complexity of vehicles, growing number of parts and more use of on-board electronics.
Vehicle manufacturers are required under European legislation to ensure that independent operators have easy, restriction- free and standardised access to vehicle RMI under Regulation 715/2007 (the ‘Euro 5’ Regulation) and related implementing and amending acts.
This study report provides the stakeholders with insight into the impacts that the requirement for access to vehicle repair and maintenance information has had on relevant stakeholders including repairers, parts producers, distributors and publishers of technical information, as well as vehicle manufacturers themselves.
Ultimately the Regulation on access to RMI aims to protect consumer choice, allowing an owner to take their vehicle to whichever outlet they choose. For example, consumers may prefer a garage due to its proximity, long-standing relationship, turn-around times and numerous other factors that may vary between authorised and independent repairers. Nevertheless, this freedom of choice should not come at the cost of vehicle performance or safety
Main findings and conclusions of the study
The implementation and levels of compliance with the Regulations were assessed for major OEMs across Europe. In general, it appears that levels of compliance are high, and it is important to recognise that the situation has improved over the past few years. OEMs have invested significant effort into their systems to ensure that the required information is provided in compliance with the Regulations.
The main difficulties appear to relate to several specific areas, which hinder the overall functioning of the system of access to RMI. Several of these have already been recognised and are being addressed by standards as follows:
• Wide variation in user interfaces and software compatibility for OEM websites: This can cause users great inconvenience, particularly occasional users or repairers that service many different brands.
• Many of these issues are expected to be helped by the introduction of the CEN/ISO standards, which introduce a more standardised format for RMI delivered via OEMs’ websites.
• Access to security/safety data: Although OEMs have a legal right to limit data relating to vehicle safety and security, there still appears to be a need for further clarification and guidance as it relates to the technical regulations of Euro 5.
• The SERMI scheme (security related repair and service information) aims to create a European-wide process for accreditation, approval and authorisation to access security- related RMI, which should streamline the current patchwork of systems.
• Other issues have not been explicitly targeted by ongoing efforts – independent operators have reported significant difficulties in accessing RMI in terms of incompleteness, delays to the availability and usability of information, contractual restrictions, and the prices of the data made available to them.
The recommendations flowing out of this study are to be commended:
1) Provide additional guidelines to clarify specific aspects of the Regulations
2) Provide ‘best practice’ guidelines on for contracting between OEMs and specialist intermediaries
3) Harmonisation of fines/penalties for non-compliance and greater enforcement
Naturally UEIL will follow up with the Commission to enquire how the conclusions of this study will be taken forward. To be continued in other words! For those of you who want to read the whole study it can be found here.
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LUBE MAGAZINE NO.125 FEBRUARY 2015
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