Page 24 - Australasian Paint & Panel Mar-Apr 2019
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News • In Focus
PAINT&PANEL MARCH / APRIL 2019 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
TEPID RESPONSE FOR TECHNICAL SHARING SCHEME
A MANDATORY SCHEME FOR SHARING SERVICE AND REPAIR INFORMATION WITH NO PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE ISN'T WORTH THE PAPER IT'S WRITTEN ON SAYS VACC.
consistent with the ACCC’s findings. AAAA Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Charity said: “We are concerned about the language used throughout the consulta- tion paper that relate to “exclusions” and “restrictions” that may be included in a mandatory code. Of course there will need to be safeguards in place to protect the se- curity and integrity of vehicle related data, however vehicle security should not be used as an excuse by car companies to withhold critical information required to
complete a vehicle repair or service. “These terms were not used in the ACCC Final Report and if they are in- cluded in the final code, we have no doubt that car companies will fully ex- ploit this by linking all required infor- mation to either security, safety or emis- sions and in reality nothing will have
changed for consumers,” Charity said.
“ The ACCC’s Final Report recom- mended that all required technical infor- mation ‘be shared with independent re- pairers on commercially fair and reasonable terms, subject to appropriate safeguards to enable the sharing of envi- ronmental, safety and security-related technical information’ and we fully sup-
port this recommendation.”
The Consultation Paper also refers to ve-
hicle manufacturers potentially being able to determine the appropriate level of in- vestment by independent workshops in or- der to receive access to service and repair data. It is the firm belief of the AAAA that this will provide vehicle manufacturers with the ability to charge exorbitant fees for information, special tools, training and equipment and is completely unworkable in a market which has over 74 different car brands on sale.
“However we believe that after two separate Government Inquiries on this matter and over eight years of consulta- tion, it is now time for the Government to build on the ACCC’s findings and rec- ommendations and implement a Man- datory Code as a matter of urgency.
A
FTER EIGHT YEARS OF CON-
stant campaigning by a
number of industry associa- tions the mandatory scheme for the sharing of motor vehicle service and repair information con- sultation paper was released in Febru- ary. Assistant Minister for Finance Sena- tor Zed Seselja stated that the Coalition will support the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s call for a mandated code, effectively forcing vehi- cle manufacturers into sharing all rele- vant vehicle service and repair informa-
tion with aftermarket repairers. However, the Coalition’s paper lacks any penalties if manufacturers fail to
comply with the directive.
“Frankly, this document is not worth
the paper it’s printed on,” said VACC Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Gwilym.
“If a ‘mandated code’ has no penalties for non-compliance it will not work in the real world.”
VACC calls on the Coalition to revise its paper to include significant penalties in a bid to garner compliance.
Gwilym says that the time for consulta- tion has long since expired and that all sides of government need to get on with the job of making a mandated code a reality.
“All stakeholders know what’s expect- ed. But relying on good will has simply not worked in the past. The industry needs the next Federal Government to mandate a code of conduct where expec- tations are fully explained, along with the ramifications for those OEMs who will not play fair.”
AAAA also points out flaws in the code for data sharing and warns that some as- pects of this consultation paper are in-


































































































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