RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.96.29
16February 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-0572)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: CANADA
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department ofTransport
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Noise emission
5. Titleandnumber ofpages ofthenotified document: Proposed Amendment totheMotor
Vehicle Safety Regulations (pages 457-462)
6. Description ofcontent: Section 1106 oftheMotor Vehicle Safety Regulations, entitled
"Noise", specifies themaximum sound pressure levels permissible fornewmotor
vehicles soldinCanada. Atpresent, thenoise emission requirements governing heavy
trucks areoutofdateanddonotharmonize withthose oftheUnited States orthe
Economic Commission ofEurope (ECE). Theproposed amendment would lower the
noise emission requirements governing trucks with agross vehicle weight rating
(GVWR) greater than4,536 kg.(10,000 lb.)andextend these requirements toapply to
chassis-cabs with thesame GVWR. Theprovisions governing allother vehicles,
including buses andlight-duty vehicles, would remain thesame.
Thecurrent requirements ofSection 1106 allow motor vehicle manufacturers the
option offollowing aCanadian testprocedure which isbased onaSociety of
Automotive Engineers (SAE) procedure, oranout-of-date ECE procedure. Inaddition
tolowering thepermissible noise limits, theproposed amendment would discontinue the
useofthetwoexisting testprocedures andrequire either thatoftheUnited States orthe
revised version oftheECE tobeusedinstead. Depending onwhich testprocedure is
followed, themaximum permissible noise levels emitted byheavy trucks would be
reduced by3to5dBA.
7. Objective andrationale: Protection ofhuman health
8. Relevant documents: Canada Gazette, PartI,3February 1996
9. Proposed dateofadoption andentry intoforce: Notstated
10. Final dateforcomments: 2May1996
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: