Ulan Batenov, Manager of Mintax LLP Legal Department, in his article tells about some changes in the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union “On the safety of wheeled vehicles” (TR CU 018/2011).

I believe that, first of all, the readers’ eyes were struck by a topic for an article unusual for this site, and in general for all Mintax Group resources. So, I just want to note that this offtopic is exclusively my initiative, as an author.

A question arises: “Why suddenly?”

Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe because this topic is close to many. Maybe I was influenced by the circumstances under which the idea arose to write this article. In general, the style in which the article is written is very different from usual legal reviews. But nevertheless, it has been posted and presented to your attention.

From time to time, like everyone else, in principle, I have free moments. And the next free minutes appeared when I was riding in a taxi. Taking this opportunity, I devoted these free minutes to reviewing the changes to the legislation like all lawyers do, I suppose.

Looking through the regular changes, leafing through various resources, I came across the draft Amendments that are introduced to the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union No. 877 dated December 9, 2011 (hereinafter – the “Amendments”), that is, to the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union “On the safety of wheeled vehicles “(TR CU 018/2011).

The document itself consists of 261 pages, and only thanks to the comments of some users, I discovered the regulation which became the topic for discussion in this article.

So, in accordance with paragraph 17 of the amendments, TR CU 018/2011 is supplemented with a new paragraph 222 as follows:

“222. Reuse of components, the list of which is given in Appendix No. 21 to this technical regulation, is not allowed.”

The question immediately arose: “What components cannot be reused in vehicles?” My fingers involuntarily began to slide across the smartphone display, trying to find this Appendix No. 21.

Appendix No. 21 consisted of 10 points, and prohibited the reuse of the following:

1. Airbags (if the bag is mounted in the steering wheel, the steering wheel itself), including the airbags as such, pyrotechnic actuators, electronic control units and sensors.
2. Automatic or non-automatic seat belt assemblies including woven belt, buckles, tensioners, pyrotechnic actuators.
3. Seats (only if seat belt and/or airbags fixtures are integrated in the seats).
4. Steering systems, including actuators, electronic control units and sensors.
5. Braking systems, including actuators, electronic control units and sensors.
6. Immobilizers, including repeaters and electronic control units.
7. Catalytic converters and particulate filters.
8. Exhaust mufflers.
9. Equipment for supplying the engine with gaseous fuel;
10. Components of compressed hydrogen storage systems for hydrogen-driven vehicles: reservoir, pressure relief device, shutoff valve, check valve.

Please note the fact that public discussion of the draft Amendments on the official portal of the Eurasian Economic Union was completed on June 1, 2020.

At first, I immediately wanted to discuss these changes with the taxi driver who was driving me, by the way, in a well-worn right-hand drive Nissan Cefiro manufactured in 1994-95. After all, given the age of his car, he will be the first to experience such changes. But then, for some reason, I gave up this idea and went into my thoughts. Maybe I wanted to avoid another criticism from another taxi driver.

Reflecting, I remembered the times (10 years ago) when I was a happy (or maybe not very happy) owner of the right-hand drive Toyota Vista, which I bought already with steering rack problems. All the fluid leaked out of it, and I tirelessly topped up this fluid, until one day I decided to solve this problem once and for all.

I remembered how I made visits to organizations exclusively engaged in the repair and restoration of steering racks (by the way, there were lots and lots of them). I remembered how they quoted the prices with which I did not agree. I remembered how I decided to buy a “second-hand” steering rack in the Bayan-Aul market (at that time it was still working), and a man who was exclusively engaged in sales of steering racks for Japanese cars was selling it to me with a smile on his face.

After all, when these changes take effect, the former way of life for the persons from my memories will no longer exist. They will have to discontinue this activity as the reuse of steering racks will no longer be allowed. And this is only one of the items of Appendix # 21 of the draft Amendments. And there are 10 of these items.

On the other hand, it can also have a positive effect on the overall situation. After all, no one guarantees the safety of transport with used spare parts installed. And the lack of new spare parts for cars older than 15 years will ultimately lead to the renewal of the vehicle fleet.

So, thinking it over, I have not come to an unambiguous conclusion regarding these Amendments.

In this regard, I give you the choice to determine for yourself how to answer the question in the title of this article.