No more legal uncertainty for manufacturers of vehicles complying with 167/2013: the unique date for providing obligatory information for the development of generic diagnostic tools and to provide standardised access to agricultural vehicles OBD is only applicable to new types and not to all vehicles.

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Already in 2018 CEMA pointed out that the interpretation of the European Commission in other files should not be simply copy-pasted for this requirement. The latest discussions related to single implementation dates in the amending regulations for our sector, Delegated Regulation 2018/830 amending 1322/2014 (RVCR) and 2018/829 amending 2015/208 (RVFSR), resulted in a new interpretation of the Commission legal services, whereby  single dates for the implementation of legal acts are applicable to all new vehicles up for placing on the market, registration or entry into service.

During the discussions on the Repair and Maintenance Information requirements, all stakeholders were convinced that with one date only new types were affected. With the new interpretation a legal uncertainty was created. With a standard for a standardized PC-VCI interface awaited and with the related necessary lead-time and high costs if it was applicable to all types, industry was keen to get clarity as quickly as possible.

Due to the Covid crisis, the European Commission had their hands full to adapt other legislative deadlines for our industry which delayed the file more than 6 months.

But finally the decision was made at the last Working Group of Agricultural Tractors meeting on 24th September. The Commission confirmed the CEMA interpretation and the minutes of that meeting will serve as proof in case of misinterpretation.

The reason for accepting the CEMA reasoning is that it concerns the development of a completely new architecture. A similar reasoning was used for category O-vehicles.