Easier with registration of autogas installations
7.8.2023
As of July 1, 2023, an entirely new Law on Approval Systems for Vehicles and Their Equipment went into effect. Work on it since 2021 has been controversial, but it has also brought some clear benefits to the autogas industry.
Why the approval law?
Until now, the approval process for vehicles, as well as for autogas installations, has been regulated in Poland under the Road Traffic Law, enacted in 1997 and amended several times. However, recent changes in European law - including Regulation 2018/858 and Directives 2021/1716 and 2021/1717 - introducing changes to the approval process, as well as the need to implement into Polish law a parallel approval path for autogas installations based on UN Regulation 115, have created the need to separate the approval issue into a new piece of legislation. The new law is intended to ensure that Polish regulations are fully in line with international legislation, and to prevent the imposition of penalties on Poland for failure to implement EU regulations. Jakub Faryś, president of the Polish Automotive Industry Association, among others, wrote about the need for a new approval law from the perspective of the automotive industry at the end of 2022.
Certificates of approval in the registration of vehicles with gas installation
In the course of the work on the law, an important problem for users of autogas-powered cars was reported to be regulated. Until now, some municipal communications departments had a problem with interpreting the regulations when registering such vehicles: the offices did not want to accept mechanically signed (so-called facsimile) extracts from certificates of approval as attachments, and required paper originals, which caused delays and costs. At the request of POGP member AC SA, a clarified provision appeared in the new law with the following wording:
Article 42. the Entity installing the additional gas supply system of the vehicle shall be obliged to issue to the owner of the vehicle an extract from the certificate of approval referred to in Article 31 (3) for each vehicle in which such system has been installed. The extract from the certificate may be signed with a mechanically imprinted signature.
The new provision unambiguously allows copies of the certificate of approval as meeting the requirements of the law for the purpose of making an entry in the vehicle registration certificate after the installation of an autogas system. At the request of the chairwoman of the Autogas Commission, the Ministry of Infrastructure issued an interpretation confirming that such documents should be honored by the authorities competent for vehicle registration.
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