FIGIEFA is working on numerous files aimed at improving the business conditions for the wider independent automotive aftermarket, and for distributors of spare parts in particular. Here is a selection of the most prominent issues we are currently working on.
Connected cars allow innovative remote functions that enable multiple new use cases and business models. Remote access to highly granular in-vehicle data enables advanced analytics including predictive failure analysis, driving style analysis and highly accurate analytics on wear and tear of components.
For decades, the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER) and its Supplementary Guidelines have set the legal frame which allows our parts distribution and repair companies to provide competitive aftermarket services, in fair competition with the vehicle manufacturers’ networks. It facilitates in particular the trade of spare parts, access to technical information, and the servicing of vehicles under warranty.
With the rise of connected and automated driving on one side, and the general increase of new cyberthreats on the other side, legislators worldwide felt the need to introduce regulation for addressing the issue of cybersecurity in the automotive sector.
Today, the legislation on design protection of visible automotive spare parts (glazing, lightings, body parts, rear-view mirrors) is not harmonised at European level, thereby creating legal uncertainties and hampering the competitiveness of parts distribution companies and the entire independent automotive aftermarket.
Climate change and the rarefaction of resources are more and more determining consumers’ choices and businesses’ strategies. In order to accompany the necessary changes the sector has to go through, FIGIEFA is developing specific actions.
European legislation (in particular the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation and the Type Approval Regulation) requires that vehicle manufacturers provide independent operators (i.e. repairers, manufacturers or distributors of repair equipment, tools or spare parts, publishers of technical information, automobile clubs, roadside assistance operators, operators offering inspection and testing services, operators offering training for installers, manufacturers and repairers of equipment for alternative fuel vehicles) with access to information on vehicle repair and maintenance.
