Automotive and Regulatory Trends in Brazil

Brazil has seen an increase in awareness of the effects of automotive safety and emissions, advanced by magazines such as “Quatro Rodas”. Being a member of the Mercosur organization, Brasil supports regulatory harmonization based on European requirements by 31 December 2002. U.S. FMVSS-based requirements that currently do not conflict with ECE-based Mercosur requirements are allowed as alternatives until 31 December 2004. The implications of these regulatory changes for automotive OEMs remain to be seen, but if recent public domain crash tests are any indication of what is to come, Brazil will quickly become the safety leader within South America.