Circular No. 54/2014/TT-BGTVT dated October 20, 2014, amending Circular No. 31/2011/TT-BGTVT stipulating the inspection of technical safety, quality and environmental protection in manufacturing and assembling motor vehicles

THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

 Circular No. 54/2014/TT-BGTVT dated October 20, 2014, amending Circular No. 31/2011/TT-BGTVT stipulating the inspection of technical safety, quality and environmental protection in manufacturing and assembling motor vehicles

Pursuant to the Law on road traffic dated November13, 2008;

Pursuant to the Law on product and goods quality dated November 21, 2007;

Pursuant to the Decree No.132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 by the Government stipulating in detail the enforcement of some articles of the Law on product and goods quality;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 187/2013/ND-CP dated November 20, 2013 by the Government stipulating in detail the enforcement of the Commercial Law on activities of buying, purchasing, processing and transit of goods with foreign partners;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 107/2012/ND-CP dated December 20, 2012 by the Government stipulating functions, duties, authorities and organizational structures of the Ministry of Transport;

At the proposal of the Head of the Service of Science and Technology and Head of Vietnam Register,

The Minister of Transport has promulgated the Circular amending, supplementing some articles of the Circular No. 30/2011/Circular-BGTVT dated April 15, 2011 by the Minister of Transport stipulating the inspection of technical safety, quality and environmental protection in manufacturing and assembling motor vehicles (hereinafter referred to as the Circular No. 30/2011/TT-BGTVT).

Article 1. To amend and supplement some articles of the Circular No. 30/2011/TT-BGTVT

1. To amend Paragraphs 8, 11 and 13 of Article 3

a) To amend Paragraph 3 of Article 3 as follows:

“8.Certification of type approvalis a process of inspection, testing, examination, assessment and certification of the conformity of a particular type of product with standards, technical regulations and applicable regulations of the Ministry of Transport on technical safety, quality and environmental protection;”

b) To amend Paragraph 11 of Article 3 as follows:

“11.Design entityis an organization that has registered business on motor vehicle engineering services or the workshop that carries out engineering, assembling and production by itself ;”

c) To amend Clause 13 of Article 3 as follows:

“13. The testing centeris an organization that operates in testing of components or motor vehicles to test components and motor vehicles in accordance with respective national standards and technical regulations and relevant legal documents;”

2. To amend Points a, b, Paragraph 2 of Article 4 as follows:

“a) Technical drawing of a vehicle (confirmed by a foreign manufacturer); Technical drawing must show general layout of the product; fundamental dimensions of the vehicle; positions and dimensions of seats, beds, lights, rear-view mirrors; width of entire cabin and dimensions of trunks (with respect to cargo trucks);

b) Copy (confirmed by a foreign manufacturing company) of the type approval certificate granted by a foreign competent agency;”

3. To amend Paragraph 1 of Article 6 as follows:

“1. The workshop is responsible for transferring typical sample to the testing center. Items and objects subject to inspection and testing are stipulated in Addendum IV issued together with this Circular.”

4. To amend Article 7 as follows:

“Article 7. Product inspection dossier

1. Inspection dossier for components (within the scope of inspection as stipulated in Addendum IV enclosed herewith) includes:

a) Original copy of test report on components;

b) Technical drawing, inclusive of product specifications; Registration of technical specifications according to respective national standards, technical regulations;

c) Photos of product; Explanation of signs and numbers stamped on product (if any);

d) Description of production technology and product quality inspection processes (except application for certificate of quality on imported component type according to the customs declaration of imports or exports)

Materials defined in Points a, b, d are exempt from submission in respect of the imported components that are accompanied by Type-Approval Certificate issued by a foreign competent agency, and a test report showing conformance of imported component type to equivalent or higher version of UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) regulations, compared to national technical regulations, and the capability of an manufacturer to meet applicable Conformity of Production (COP) requirements according to the regulations of ECE, EC, which is conducted by a foreign competent agency or any independent appraising organization certified by a foreign competent agency.

2. Documentation required for the inspection of motor vehicles includes:

a) Original copy of test report on technical safety, quality and environmental protection in accordance with applicable national technical regulations with respect to motor vehicles;

b) Design documentation appraised by the quality management agency or alternative materials as stated in Paragraph 2, Article 4 hereof;

c) Product Photos; Registration of technical specifications according to form stipulated in Addendum V promulgated together with this Circular;

d) Statistics of components, domestic and imported manufacturing equipment used for production, assembling of products according to the form stipulated in Addendum VI promulgated together with this Circular;

D) Description of process of production technology, assembly and product quality inspection;

e) Explanation of methods, and position of vehicle identification number (VIN) and engine number;

g) Product user guide and maintenance manual;

3. Product inspection dossier must be retained at the quality management agency and workshop at least two years since the manufacturing company has notified the quality management agency of suspension of production and assembly of the certified product type workshop.

5. To amend Article 8 as follows:

“Article 8. Conformity of Production

1. To ensure products manufactured through the mass production process achieve the accepted quality, the workshop must meet the following requirements:

a) Having the quality inspection process and professional instructions for each type of product from incoming component quality control, in-process quality control to quality assurance of the maintenance and warranty services;

b) Having necessary test equipment for each production stage. List of equipment that meet the minimum requirements for the outgoing quality assurance of finished motor vehicles as stipulated in Addendum VII issued together with this Circular; Annually, these equipment must be inspected and confirmed in terms of its working conditions by the quality management agency;

c) Having technicians responsible for outgoing quality assurance of finished motor vehicles which are assessed by a foreign manufacturer (licensor) or the professional training quality management agency in terms of the conformity of such products to the type-approval requirements.

2. The quality management agency carries out the assessment of COP by means of the following methods:

a)Initialassessmentis carried out before the Certificate is granted under ISO/TS 16949 “Particular requirements for quality management systems of automotive production and relevant service part organizations”, including examination and assessment of processes of manufacturing and assembling technology, product quality inspection; Regulations on storage and control of quality documents; Staff for production, assembly and quality control; facilities for inspection of finished product quality; Operation of in-process quality control during the product manufacturing and assembly stage and outgoing quality assurance during the launch of product into the market.

b)Annual assessmentis carried out on an annual basis in order to ensure the manufacturer’s conformance to COP requirements. Inspection of storage of inspection dossier and conformity of finished products with quality criteria as registered in the product inspection dossier at the workshop is carried out through a method of probability. Extended scope of inspection, assessment is carried out when non-conformity is detected during the process of production, assembly and quality control.

c)Unexpectedassessmentis carried out in case the workshop shows signs of violations against the regulations concerning the inspection of quality or there are complaints about product quality or in case of COP assessment according to this Article.

3. Exemption from COP assessment in the following cases:

a) Types of products manufactured, assembled according to technological process or similar inspection process or proved no fundamental change versus the technological process and inspection process of product types previously assessed.

b) Imported components from foreign manufacturers must have documents showing the results of COP assessment still in force according to regulations of ECE, EC at the components manufacturing establishments implemented by a foreign competent agency or an independent entity certified by a foreign competent agency.”

6. To amend Paragraph 1 of Article 9 as follows:

“1. Quality management agency shall rely on the product inspection dossier as defined in Article 7 hereof and test report of COP as in Article 8 hereof to award the certificate of technical safety, quality and environmental protection (hereinafter referred to as the Certificate) for product types according to respective forms stipulated in Addendum VIII promulgated together with this Circular. The certificate granted for imported component types is only valid with respect to components of the same type under the customs declaration of imported goods if there is no test report of COP as defined in Paragraph 2, Article 8 or no exemption from COP assessment as defined in Paragraph 3, Article 8 hereof.”

7. To amend Article 10 as follows:

“Article 10. In-process quality control during the mass production and assembly

1. After the product is granted the Certificate, the workshop shall start mass production, inspection of quality during production, assembly for each product and must ensure that all these products must meet the standard, technical regulations the same way as the product inspection dossier and certified typical sample.

2. The workshop must be responsible for origin and quality of finished products.

3. Each product from mass production must be inspected as a finished product by the workshop (hereinafter referred to as the outgoing quality assurance) in either of the following manners: inspection under the quality management agency’s supervision and self-inspection:

a) The finished product inspection under the quality management agency’s supervision

The quality management agency shall carry out the supervision on the finished production inspection (hereinafter referred to as The supervision) at motor vehicle manufacturing and assembling establishments in the following cases: Those involved in the production, assembly of motor vehicles for the first time; Those turning out unstable products (Quality of a product is seen as unstable if the ratio of the products unacceptable and to be re-supervised to the total number of products under the supervision is higher than 5%  for the entire phase of supervision or higher than 10% for any month of the supervision phase); Those turning out products showing unconformity with the product inspection dossier and typical sample of the certified product types; Those having no technician in charge of the finished product inspection according to regulations in Point c, Paragraph 1, Article 8 hereof or having technicians who are not qualified for the finished product inspection; Those committing some violation relating to use of finished product inspection note; Workshops erasing, modifying, and re-stamping VIN and engine number on their own choice. Content of the supervision is defined in Addendum IX issued together with this Circular. Period of a supervision phase is 6 months (finished products coming out) or 500 products depending on what come first. After the supervision phase, in case quality of product proves stable and workshop meets the regulations on quality inspection, finished product self-inspection shall be used according to regulations in Point b of this Paragraph.

b) Finished product self-inspection

Workshops out of the list of subjects under supervision as stipulated in Point a set out in this Paragraph are permitted to perform finished product self-inspection according applicable regulations. Quality management agencies may carry out unexpectedly investigation. If the workshops are found to have violated the regulations concerning quality inspection, depending on the seriousness of violation, the Certificate shall be suspended, revoked or application of supervision to be exercised according to Point a of this Paragraph.

4. Finished product dossier for motor vehicles

a) For motor vehicles being granted the Certificate and having report on results of testing and supervision for the batch of launched vehicles, the workshop is given a foil of the finished product inspection note (according to the form stipulated in Addendum X issued together with this Circular) corresponding to the number of vehicles of that batch. Based on test results of each product, the workshop issues finished product quality inspection note (hereinafter referred to as the factory dispatch note for short) for motor vehicles. The factory dispatch note must be signed and affixed seal by a competent person (Heads, deputies or subordinates who are empowered by the head of the workshop). Finished product note issued to motor vehicles mentioned above is used to process procedures for motor vehicle registration.

b) The workshop is responsible for preparing and issuing to each finished motor vehicle the documents: Finished product note (original) according to regulations in Point a of this Paragraph for registration procedures; Finished product note (copy) for inspection procedures (first time) at motor vehicle registration centers; manuals specifying key technical specifications and use of vehicle safety equipment; warranty card specifying warranty conditions and addresses of warranty bases.

c) The workshop is responsible for reporting and transmitting data concerning finished vehicle inspection to the quality management agency.”

8. To amend, supplement Article 11 as follows:

“Article 11. Assessment of product types granted the Certificate; suspension and revocation of the Certificate

1. The quality management agency carries out the following assessments of product types granted the Certificate:

a) Annual assessment of product types;

b) Change assessment, in case of any changes to the product versus product types granted the Certificate that occur;

c) Change assessment, in case of any changes to national standards and technical regulations concerned that occur.

2. Foundations for assessment of product types granted the Certificate include:

a) Results of COP assessment at the workshop according to regulations set out in Paragraph 2, Article 8 hereof;

b) Conformity of products granted the Certificate with respective national standard and technical regulations or compatibility of products under changes with product types granted the Certificate or Compliance of products under changes with national standard, technical regulations concerned.

3. As changes to national standard, technical regulations governing product types are endorsed or as changes to the product affect the compatibility of that product with respective national standard, technical regulations, the workshop must carry out inspection and additional testing at the Testing center. In this case, the workshop must present to the quality management agency the additional documents as below:

a) Materials concerning changes to the product;

b) Test report of products in accordance with new national standard, technical regulations or test report supplemented with changed items of the product in accordance with national standard, technical regulations.

Quality management agency shall receive and examine supplemented materials to consider, assess and award the Certificate.

4. Suspension of the Certificate’s validity

Quality management agency shall suspend validity of the Certificate for a period of three months and send a written notice to workshops for the following cases:

a) The workshop that violates regulations concerning the inspection of product quality or employment of the finished product quality note.

b) Any finished product that shows unconformity with the product inspection dossier and typical sample of product types which are granted the Certificate and the workshop fails to remedy finished products of non-conformity;

c) The workshop that fails to exercise the regulations stated in Points a, b and c, Paragraph 1, Article 13 hereof concerning revocation or fails to put forward measures to remedy technical errors of product types with respect to the products which are being manufactured and assembled at the workshop;

d) The workshop that erases falsifies and stamps the VIN, engine numbers of the assembled motor vehicle at their discretion.

During the suspension of the Certificate’s validity, the workshop must carry out the remedy for its faults. The quality management agency shall carry out the examination and inspection after the remedy of the faults is notified; if the faults are remedied, the quality management agency shall cancel the revocation of the Certificate’s validity and send a written notice to the workshop; in case the duration of suspension is expired and the workshop still fails to remedy its faults, the quality management agency shall continue to suspend validity of the Certificate for a period of three months. In case the workshop insists on failing to remedy its faults after the expiration of the second suspension, the Certificate granted to the product types shall be revoked in accordance with the regulations in Point d, Clause 5 of this Article.

5. Revocation of Certificate

The quality management agency shall give a written notification of the revocation and termination of the Certificate for the following cases:

a) When the product no longer meets applicable national standards, regulations or the product has some change and is uncomfortable with the product inspection dossier and the granted Certificate but the workshop fails to carry out the inspection and testing in accordance with the regulation;

b) Results of COP assessment have shown that the workshop has committed a serious violation of relevant regulations on product quality inspection and use of finished product inspection note;

c) The workshop fails to carry out the recall of products of technical defects in accordance with the regulations in Chapter III hereof;

d) Validity of type approval certificate has been suspended for two consecutive times as stipulated in Paragraph 4 of this Article but the workshop still fails to remedy the defects of that product type.”

9. To amend Point D, Clause 2 of Article 13 as follows:

“D) Suspending validity of the Certificate in case the workshop violates the regulations in Point a, Clause 4, Article 11 hereof. Within a period of three months since the last day to carry out the recall, the workshop fails to carry out the recall of products of defects according to the published plan and fails to report on the recall, the Certificate shall be revoked.

10. To supplement Chapter III-a as follows:

“CHAPTER III-a

HANDLING OF MOTOR VEHICLES WITH ERASED, MODIFIED AND RE-STAMPED VIN, ENGINE NUMBER

Article 15a. Handling of automobiles manufactured, assembled from imported spare-parts (frame, body or engine) of which VIN or engine numbers are erased, modified and re-stamped.

During the inspection and certification of technical safety and environmental protection (hereafter referred to as the inspection and certification), in case the frame numbers, engine numbers or VINs of the automobiles manufactured, assembled from the imported spare-parts are found to be erased, modified and re-stamped, the quality management agency shall take the following actions:

1. Withholding procedures of inspecting and certifying manufactured, assembled automobiles;

2. Establishing a written record of the motor vehicle’s status of violating the regulations in the Decree No.187/2013/ND-CP in accordance with the form stipulated in Addendum XI issued together with this Circular with respect to automobiles manufactured, assembled from the imported spare-parts of which  frame numbers, engine numbers or VINs has been erased, modified and re-stamped

3. Within a period of no later than 03 working days since the date on which the conclusion on violations has been released, the quality management agency is responsible for giving a written notification to the workshop and Customs Agency where import procedures are made for settlement in accordance with the regulation.

Article 15b. Handling cases of motor vehicles being manufactured, assembled from components with VIN or engine number erroneously stamped, erased, modified or re-stamped.

During the inspection and certification, in case the automobiles manufactured, assembled from spare-parts of domestic VINs or engine numbers which are detected as being erroneously stamped, erased, modified and re-stamped, the quality management agency shall proceed:

1. Withholding procedures of inspecting, certifying manufactured, assembled motor vehicles;

2. Establishing a written record of the current status of the frame numbers and engine numbers;

3. Within a period of no later than 03 working days since the day of being concluded as a violation, the quality management agency shall be responsible for issuing a written notification to the workshop asking for the remedy of its faults or recall of the defected products, and at the same time using the way of quality supervision and inspection as mentioned in the regulations in Point a, Clause 3, Article 10 hereof with respect to any workshop which produces defected products and suspending validity of the Certificate granted for that product type in accordance with the regulations in Paragraph 4, Article 11 hereof.

Article 15c. Handling of other cases

1. During the inspection and certification, in case there is some doubt about the frame numbers, VINs or engine numbers of motor vehicles being erased, modified or re-stamped, the quality management agency shall postpone procedures of inspection and certification to that motor vehicle and carry out a poll of appraisal at the authorized professional appraising agency.

2. In case any motor vehicle being manufactured and assembled from domestic VIN or engine number which are detected as being mis-stamped due to staff manipulation or being blurred, unreadable, the workshop shall retain the wrongly stamped number and give a written notification to the quality management agency. The quality management agency shall carry out the inspection and if no sign of violations is shown, give a written notification to the workshop and carry out the supervision of the modified VIN or engine number.

11. Supplementing Paragraph 4, Article 18 as follows:

“4. The workshop is not permitted to use spare-parts (frame, body or engine) or any motor vehicle of which frame number, VIN or engine number is erased, modified and re-stamped for the manufacturing and assembling of motor vehicle.”

12. Amending, supplementing some addenda of the Circular No.30/2011/TT-BGTVT as follows:

a) Amending addenda IV, V, VII and VIII issued together with the Circular No.30/2011/TT-BGTVT corresponding to the addenda I, II, III and IV issued together with this Circular.

b) Supplementing the Addendum XI to the Circular No.30/2011/TT-BGTVT corresponding to the Addendum V issued together with this Circular.

Article 2. Transitional clauses

For motor vehicle type which is granted the Certificate before the effective date of this Circular, the imported spare-parts being used for the assembly of this vehicle type subject to inspection and testing as stipulated in the Addendum IV issued together with Circular 30/2011/TT-BGTVT shall undergo the inspection and granting of the Certificate for the spare-part type according to the plan as follows:

1. For front lights: applied from July 01, 2015.

2. For rearview mirror, front windshield, side and rear windows, glass panel roof and tire: applied from May 17, 2016.

3. Other spare-parts: applied according to the plan as stipulated in respective national technical regulations.

Article 3.Implementation effect and organization

1. This Circular takes effect on December 15, 2014.

2. Chief of Ministerial Secretariat, Chief of Ministerial Investigation, Heads of Vietnam Registration Services and Departments, Heads of relevant bodies, organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular./.

The Minister of Transport

Dinh La Thang

* All appendices are not translated herein.