The latest news to worry ACE is that SVA will cease to be at the end of March 2009. As you will see from The Birth of ACE the SVA is a very necessary piece of legislation should you be modifying or scratch building a vehicle. The proposal is that it will be replaced with IVA. However there are no copies available for inspection nor is any public consultation needed as it will come into force due to the signing of the EU (non constitution) Treaty. This means it will simply enter our Statutes with no input from our own Government or, more specifically, the people it purports to represent.

Enquiries have shown that the IVA has been looked at by VOSA and that there are currently some ‘showstoppers’ that would effectively stop home building, or modifying, as most cars would be unable to comply. For instance, the IVA would require ALL vehicles to be fitted with ABS and that the system should be certified, by the manufacturer, as being suitable for its application!

VOSA are keen to have the support of all those who SVA currently affects to enable a usable system to replace SVA. However, it appears fairly obvious that the test will become more stringent and there is the possibility that the class structure may be broken down more, with increasing levels of regulations to meet.

Possibly you feel this doesn’t affect you. However all legislation should be checked to see how it would impact if any other current legislation was to change. For instance your vehicle may currently enjoy Historic Vehicle classification but if restrictions on it’s usage were to be introduced you may wish to modify the vehicle and register it as a ‘new ‘ build. How likely would it be to pass a test that is specific to vehicles built within the last 10 years and all the ‘safety’ innovations that are required? What if the currently dormant issues in the DVLA Consultation results for checking vehicles modifications at MOT time were to come into force and your vehicle had at some stage of it’s life, not necessarily during you ownership or to your knowledge, had been so modified as to require IVA ?

Quote section 28 from DVLA Consultation results
“There were varied responses from government departments. It was suggested; that where the original chassis was retained but the appearance changed to a different specification from the original, the vehicle should be subject to SVA, that since the introduction of the INF 26 guidelines, manufacturing processes have changed and the point system is no longer as relevant as it was, that applicants should be required to present an engineer/garage report, that a check at MoT testing would identify vehicles which had been modified but DVLA had not been notified. ”

In preperation for the changes and loss of the SVA the DfT have released a mailshot detailing some of the new type Approval guidelines. There are also more details on the website DfT - ECWVTA

ACE is monitoring the situation on a monthly basis.