A Vehicle Technical Service has been set up following a preliminary audit visit by a delegation from the Malta Standards Authority (MSA) to STC Services Technologies and Consulting Srl operating from Rome, which requested the creation and eventual designation of a “technical service” as required under EU legislation.
Such a service was necessary because all industrial sectors are subject to some form of approval or certification system, and road vehicles are a special case, because of their importance and impact upon society. They have almost always been subject to specific technical standards.
Within Europe, two systems of type approval have been in existence for over 20 years: one is based around EC Directives and provides for the approval of whole vehicles, vehicle systems, and separate components; the other is based around ECE (United Nations) Regulations and provides for approval of vehicle systems and separate components, but not whole vehicles.
The MSA delegation, led by chairman Ing. Francis E. Farrugia, went to evaluate and discuss the request, made in early 2005. The competence of the VTS was assessed and established by the National Accreditation Board – Malta, which set up a specific technical assessment team with the necessary competence.
A final report recommending that accreditation be awarded to VTS for the tests in the scope of accreditation was discussed during the meeting of the Accreditation Committee which was held on 28 December, when it was decided to approve the granting of the Accreditation Certificate to VTS.
Each EU member state is required to appoint an approval authority to issue the approvals and a technical service to carry out the testing to the Directives and Regulations.
An approval issued by one authority will be accepted in all the member states. In Malta, the Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate of the Malta Standards Authority (CIGD-MSA) is the Maltese Type Approval Authority.
The concept of a European-wide approval scheme was introduced in the 1970s and Malta now has a scheme covering vehicles. The benefits of such a scheme known as European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA) include:
• Consistency of environmental and safety standards;
• Independent validation of performance against legislative requirements;
• A level playing field for companies wishing to sell to Europe, reducing potential barriers to trade.
In simple terms, type approval is the confirmation that production samples of a design will meet specific performance standards. The specification of the product is recorded and only that specification is approved.