Australia signs an Agreement on access to Service and Repair Information
The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) ‘Choice of Repairer’ campaign launched in 2009 achieved its aim when five leading automotive industry bodies signed a Voluntary Agreement on 15 December 2014 to make vehicle data sharing a reality.
The “Agreement on Access to Service and Repair Information for Motor Vehicles” was signed by five Australian organisations representing key industry and consumer groups. The signatory parties to the Heads of Agreement are the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (representing the car industry), the Australian Automotive Dealers Association (representing the new car dealers), the Australian Motor Industry Federation (representing the retail motor trades), the Australian Automobile Association (representing car owners) and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA).
This Agreement is a great achievement for the Australian and worldwide independent Aftermarket, in that it facilitates access by independent repairers to all information required for the diagnosis repair, servicing, inspection, periodic monitoring, and reinitialising of the vehicle, in line with similar rights that market operators enjoy in Europe and the USA. “It is also the result of nearly six years of cooperation between FIGIEFA and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) – through a joint Worldwide Right to Repair Campaign’, and we thank FIGIEFA for its support, intelligence and exchange of experience provided”, says AAAA Executive Director Stuart Charity.
Moreover, the agreement outlines a set of agreed principles, a governance structure and dispute resolution process and is intended to provide a safeguard to consumers and a competitive market to ensure that the availability of repair information does not become a barrier to entry in the automotive service and repair market. Another critical aspect to the agreement is that the Signatories Parties note that the progressive uptake of emerging vehicle telematics technologies are enabling increased remote transmission and use of data relating to vehicle use, performance and diagnostics and have agreed to implement a process to develop protocols relating to vehicle data access and ownership – with progress on this to be reported within 12 months.
FIGIEFA will continue to closely cooperate with the Australian, US and South African Aftermarket associations in the framework of the Worldwide ‘Right to Repair Campaign’. FIGIEFA is hopeful that the achievements obtained by our Australian colleagues is just the starting point in a process to ensure consumer choice and a fair and level playing field in the vehicle service and repair market worldwide.
Downloads
- To read the AAAA media release please CLICK HERE.
- To read the media release from Minister Billson please CLICK HERE.
- To view the signed data sharing agreement please CLICK HERE.