The UK Vehicle Certification Authority is the body that certifies cars are safe, but after Brexit the EU will no longer recognise our authority and therefore UK based car makers (I hesitate to call them British because none of the volume makers are) will have to seek approval from EU based authorities if they want to sell into Europe.
In it's notice to stake holders (HERE) the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs says:
Manufacturers' representatives established in the United Kingdom will not, as from the withdrawal date, be considered as established in the Union for the purposes of Article 5(3). Therefore, to the extent that Directive 2007/46/EC is still relevant to their activities, manufacturers established outside the Union are advised to take the necessary steps to ensure that, as from the withdrawal date, their appointed representatives are established in the EU-27.
For the purposes of Directive 2007/46/EC, "approval authority" means "the authority of a Member State with competence for all aspects of the approval of a type of vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit or of the individual approval of a vehicle; for the authorisation process, for issuing and, if appropriate, withdrawing approval certificates; for acting as the contact point for the approval authorities of other Member States; for designating the technical services and for ensuring that the manufacturer meets his obligations regarding the conformity of production".
This is not going to make happy reading for Nissan, Honda, Toyota, JLR and BMW. It will involve an awful lot of work to get all their existing certifications transferred to an EU body. Of course, if we reach an agreement with the EU this may not be required but the Commission are issuing these notices to stakeholders because a transition or trade deal is not guaranteed and this gives legal certainty.
Incidentally, the Commission are issuing notices on all sorts of subjects at quite a pace (HERE). They range from import/export licenses to insurance and re-insurance. Whether anyone on our side is actually reading these is another matter. There does appear to be collective sticking of fingers in ears and hoping it can all be avoided - let us hope some of it can. But I doubt if it all can.
