Experts call for classics to be protected from export rules
Environmental trade regulations must exclude classics, says FIVA
New environmental regulations aimed at protecting emergingmarket countries from polluting end of life (ELV) vehicles must not tar classics with the same brush, The Fédération International des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) has said.
Aware of the trade in older exported cars, the United Nations Environment Programme conducted a survey of 146 countries, many of them in developing and emerging markets. It found that, locally, 18 have completely banned the import of used cars, with a further 66 setting age limits, between three and 15 years old. Further study by the UN found that 28 of these countries have some emissions standards in place, and 100 more have no emissions standards at all.
The UN report said: ‘ This trade needs supervision. Regulation is essential to ensure vehicle quality and reduce (urban) air pollution and global climate emissions.’
Concerns that age and emissions controls would prevent the preservation of historic vehicles in these countries were answered by FIVA, who pledged to intervene by suggesting exemption for vehicles aged 30 years plus from legislation.
FIVA’s vice president of legislation, Lars Genild, said: ‘We […] see the problem as being related to unrestored or unpreserved vehicles without a valid roadworthiness test (RWT) certificate. We can equally see this would be taken into consideration in the anticipated amendment of the ELV directive within EU. We are lobbying for a clear definition of an ELV in the [EU] directive to ensure that historic vehicles and parts are not captured by ELV provisions on dismantling. ‘It is important to ensure that the customs authorities differentiate and classify a vehicle as secondhand or a historic.’
] fiva.org