Self-Certification
Legal grounds: Article 30 of the Vehicle Management Act and Article 31 and 40 of the Enforcement Rule from the same act and regulation about vehicle self certification guideline
Subject and Contents: Car manufacturers (including two-wheeled vehicles), assemblers and importers need to assure (self-certification) that their vehicles are compliant with the rules on safety standards by themselves.
- Subject: Large car manufacturers and importers such as Hyundai Motor, BMW Korea
But, the manufacturers whose production size and safety and performance testing facilities do not meet the requirements designated by the Order of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation need to receive confirmation from a performance testing institute (KATRI) for self-certification.
- Subject: Small manufacturers such as special-feature vehicle manufacturers, and small car importers
What is non-compliance?
Non-compliance means that a vehicle is not compliant with safety standards or it has some defects that may lead to interruption of its safety operation. Since non-compliance refers to only serious defects that are directly related to safety, the following defects whose influence on the safety is negligible are excluded from the subjects to recall.
- Passenger convenience devices such as air conditioner and radio
- Abrasion of shock absorber, battery and brake, which need periodic inspection, maintenance and replacement
- Simple rust on car frame panel
- Poor paint quality or scars on car accessories
Recall
In Item 1, Article 31 of the Vehicle Management Act, it is stated that " If a vehicle has any defects, its manufacturer shall immediately disclose this fact and take corrective action under the orders designated by the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs."
If a car manufacturer, assembler or importer fails to disclose or take corrective action with its non-compliant vehicles, the Minister of Construction and Transportation may give an order it to recall them and also may request a performance testing institute to inspect (non-compliance check) whether such vehicles have some defects (Item 3, Article 3 of the Vehicle Management Act) and KATRI conducts practical inspection.
Voluntary Recall and Mandatory Recall.
Recall is classified into Voluntary Recall and Mandatory Recall. In most cases, recall is done voluntarily rather than mandatorily by the Government. 'Influenced Recall', which is conducted by a manufacturer voluntarily in the middle of non-compliance inspection conducted by the Government, is also included in "Voluntary Recall". In case of USA where the recall system is actively operated, about 75 percent of cases are conducted by manufacturers voluntarily and rest of them also belong to 'Influenced Recall'. For this reason the manufacturer's voluntary recall is becoming more common.
Difference between Recall and PL (Product Liability)
The recall system is a system under which a manufacturer, assembler or importer notices customers that the defect of its products causes or may cause damage to human or property and quickly recollect applicant products, taking appropriate actions such as repair, exchange or refund to prevent accidents and recurrence.
The PL system is a compensation liability system for loss under which a manufacturer (the person or entity that engages in manufacturing, processing and importing products) shall compensate a person who is damaged by defects of its products.
That is, recall and PL have some commonalities in that both protect the customer's rights and interests from damage but, with the compensation program for customer's loss and PL, manufacturers directly compensate customers for their loss only after some damages actually take place. On the contrary, recall is a more active system to protect customers with its preventive measures by inducing manufacturers voluntarily or mandatorily to take corrective measures against their defected products before any safety accident takes place.
