This is along the lines of the post further down 'the future 22/5' which drew some interesting replies. The following is from Camberly's Independant magazine for June 07.

The changes in block exemption enabled many garages to increase business by allowing them to work on a wider range of cars, previously only accessible to the main dealers. This has now led to a new threat from the VM's--they are trying to use a loophole in the BER regulations (Safety & Security) to make it as difficult as possible for independents to repair their cars.

As the amount of vehicles using integrated electronic systems increases, the more chance there is for the VM's to legitimately withold information on the grounds of safety and security--thereby preventing the independent garage from working on the vehicle.

Successful exploitation of this loophole will have a serious effect on everyone from OE suppliers right through to the motorist, in other words-- everyone involved in the independent aftermarket!!

So what is the solution? Quite simply the aftermarket needs to take action. Garages should continue to push the benefits or BER to their customers--we still have supplies of posters and leaflets to assist with this.

At a higher level, there is a new , pan-european campaign called 'Right To Repair', which is being jointly supported in the UK by the ADF,GAU and the UK Parts Alliance. A substantial amount of money has been committed by these groups to support this campaign whilst as a business, we are also doing our part by keeping you informed and our MD David Russell is on the national committee for this campaign.
It's not just the right to repair, it's the right to survive!

Nicely put, we're all in it together. Roy.