RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.95.354
14December 1995
ORGANIZATION
(95-4081)
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): Occupant protection
systems
5. Titleandnumber ofpages ofthenotified document: Proposed Amendment totheMotor
Vehicle Safety Regulations (pages 4131-4160)
6. Description ofcontent: Modern technology offers twotypes ofoccupant restraint
system: primary andsupplemental. Themanual three-point seat-belt system, which
consists ofacombined lapandshoulder beltanchored tothevehicle inthree locations,
offers primary protection inthatitrestrains thewearer andprevents theoccupant from
being ejected from thevehicle. Airbags, which areusually installed atboththedriver
andpassenger seating positions andautomatically deploy intheevent ofanaccident, are
designed tooffer supplemental protection tothehead, neckandchest. Manual seat-belt
andair-bag systems arealsoclassified asproviding either active orpassive protection
because seat-belts must beengaged bytheoccupant while airbagsinflate ontheirown.
Research indicates thatifcertain design refinements made tooccupant protection
systems overthelastdecade wereavailable onallvehicles, many ofthehead, chest, and
abdominal injuries thatoccur onCanadian roadways could beavoided. (1)Itisnow
possible toprevent thedriver 'sheadfrom hitting thesteering assembly; tosignificantly
reduce theforce ofheadimpacts withtheA-pillars, dashboard, andwindshield; andto
minimize thechest andabdominal injuries caused byincorrectly positioned seat-belts.
(2)Many currently available occupant restraint systems already offer suchprotection;
however, inorder toensure thatallseat-belt andair-bag systems provide thehighest
practicable margin ofsafety, itisnecessary thatthelegislation governing these systems
bekeptcurrent.
./.G/TBT/Notif.95.354
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Protection ofhuman safety.
8. Relevant documents: Canada Gazette, PartI,2December 1995.
9. Proposed dateofadoption andentry intoforce: 1September 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 1March 1996
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: