“Road safety should not be compromised as a result of automotive trade negotiations.”
That was the message from a number of road safety organizations who wrote to Dr Juan Carlos Muñoz, president of the International Transport Forum (ITF) before ITF’s annual summit held in Germany last month.
The organizations raised concerned that current disputes over tariffs and trade in automobiles could have an adverse impact on well-established global vehicle safety standards.
Global NCAP, one of the organizations to sign the letter said in a statement: “We strongly believe that it is better to level up than to level down vehicle standards.
“This would both improve road safety and international trade in automobiles. We respectfully ask ITF Transport Ministers to support the following actions:
- Encourage their colleague Trade Ministers to refrain from including vehicle safety standards in negotiations over tariffs and trade.
- Engage with the UN World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations to support multilateral cooperation on improved vehicle safety; and
- Ensure that recent progress in global automotive standards is reinforced rather than undermined.”
