Road Safety

Monday, 8 September 2025

Questions (417)

Roderic O'Gorman

Question:

417. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Transport if he has concerns about the future impact on road safety standards arising from Paragraph 8 of the Joint Statement on a United States-European Union Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade ("With respect to automobiles, the United States and the European Union intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other's standards."); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47093/25]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Transport

EU Type Approval is informed by standards set at the unece.org/transport/vehicle-regulations/world-forum-harmonization-vehicle-regulations-wp29 which works towards global harmonisation of vehicle regulations. The United States of America and many EU member states are members of this working party and the EU represents the collective position of member states at this forum.

It is expected that discussions, as part of the United States-European Union Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade ("With respect to automobiles, the United States and the European Union intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other's standards"), will be in the context of these UNECE harmonised regulations and that high road safety standards required as part of type-approval will be maintained.

At this early stage, there is no further information on the intention to mutually recognise vehicle standards, nor on a format or timeframe for discussions.