Vehicle regulation

Vehicle regulations are requirements that automobiles must satisfy in order to be sold in a particular country. They are usually mandated by legislation, and administered by a government body. The regulations concern aspects such as lighting, controls, crashworthiness, environment protection and theft protection.

The first steps toward harmonising vehicle regulations internationally were made in 1952 when WP.29, a working party of experts on technical requirements of vehicles was created. This resulted in the 1958 Agreement on uniform conditions of approval and mutual recognition of approvals of vehicles, components and parts. There was a new agreement in 1998 whose objectives were to improve global safety, decrease environmental pollution and consumption of energy and improve anti‐theft performance of vehicles and related components and equipment through establishing global technical regulations (GTRs) in a Global Registry based on UNECE Regulations or on national regulations listed in a Compendium of candidates, GTR harmonising them at the highest level. In 2000, WP.29 became the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations that is a working party of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe(UNECE).

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