Filenews 27 December 2024 - by Angelos Nicolaou
With his expected decree, effective February 3, 2025, the Minister of Transport is called upon to manage the recall of vehicles, the restriction or not of their use and the role that each party involved should play. These guidelines, which are expected to be temporary, will address the urgency of the situation with faulty Takata airbags. When the withdrawals are implemented, all the provisions of Regulation 2018/858 should be applied.
What has been made clear to the Department of Road Transport (TUM) is that in other countries (e.g. Japan and Ireland), the responsibility for recalls of "grey" vehicles, i.e. those imported in parallel trade, lies with the importer and the owner, depending on who introduced the vehicle to the market for the first time.
In the case of Cyprus, cars imported through parallel trade were not included in a recall chain, and manufacturers, dealers, distributors and importers did not cooperate and inform each other of serious risks that users may face.
As can be seen so far, responsibilities are difficult to apportion, particularly because in other Member States there is another practice, namely that owners are responsible for grey vehicles. It is expected that this tangle will be unravelled by the Legal Service.
Until then, however, the supervisory authority, the TFT, faces a situation that requires swift action. Although it requested information from manufacturers through dealers for all vehicles located in Cyprus that are recalled, only some responded while others claim inability to be informed by manufacturers.
It is evident that economic operators have not taken appropriate corrective measures and have not responded within the time limit allotted to them. The risk calls for swift action and this may justify the measures provided for by the legislation passed last week, which should be regarded as appropriate interim measures to prevent or restrict the movement of vehicles or to recall them.
In the European Union, responsibilities are defined by Regulation 2018/858 which states that in order to ensure a high level of safety for all vehicles placed on the market, the manufacturer or other economic operator in the supply chain should take appropriate corrective action when a vehicle presents a serious risk to users, including a recall of vehicles.
The Regulation manages responsibilities around the supply chain axis, depending on the role of each person involved. It involves economic operators such as the manufacturer, agent, distributor and importer. The Regulation involves everyone in a web of responsibilities and actions, in order to protect the public interest when vehicles put into circulation are in difficulty.
The manufacturer's representative shall be obliged to cooperate with the market surveillance authorities on any measures taken to eliminate serious risks to vehicles, in accordance with their agreement with the manufacturer.
Where a vehicle presents a serious risk, distributors shall immediately provide detailed information to the manufacturer, importer and approval authorities. Distributors shall also inform them of any action taken and give details of any corrective measures taken by the manufacturer.
Before placing a vehicle on the market, importers shall link their registered trade name and the address at which they can contact the vehicle, create a register of recalls for the vehicles they have placed on the market and keep distributors informed.
Where a vehicle first placed on the market by importers presents a serious risk, they shall immediately take corrective action under the supervision of the manufacturer, including withdrawal from the market or recall. They shall immediately inform both approval authorities and market surveillance authorities.
Where the surveillance authority establishes that a vehicle presents a serious risk to health and safety, it shall require the economic operator to take all corrective measures to ensure that the vehicle, when put into service, no longer presents any risk.
