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The role of government in the change from national to supranational legislation
Technical Paper
2000-05-0384
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
As a result of the modification of the 58th Geneva Agreement in
1995, which invited non-European countries to join the Agreement, a
process of harmonization of the compulsory-compliance standards in
the automobile sector is taking place, to the detriment of the
particular laws of each country. The number of countries involved
in this process grows year by year.
At the moment, governments must make new legislation reconcile
the interest of their countries, derived from their particular
problems, with the interest of all the other countries involved.
This process entails long negotiations, due to the existence of
sometimes conflicting interest, defended by the different
governments and manufacturers and consumers organizations.
In this new context, the role of national governments is
directed at two complementary lines of action: a) active
participation in the elaboration of the new standards at
international forums, through the contribution of specific
proposals based on previously developed research studies, and b)
laboratory control through the establishment of a quality policy,
which guarantees the reliability of test results.
This new working method causes the personnel involved to change
function and brings the necessity of finding more human resources
and, therefore, new financial sources. By presenting the Spanish
example, this paper aims at providing other countries in this
situation with a framework which may be useful to them in finding
their own solution.