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By comparison, automotive part sales are valued at USD 21.2 billion in 2017 in France. Europe (particularly Germany, Spain, the U.K., and Italy, remain France’s main foreign trading partner, accounting for approximately 77.9% in imports and 79.1% in exports. Outside of Europe, France’s main trading partners are in Africa, China, the Americas and Turkey. France’s main suppliers outside of the E.U. are Japan, China, Africa, the U.S. and Turkey.
The French car fleet has been stable for the last couple of years. The average vehicle age is now 10 years old. Out of the 31 million passenger vehicles registered in France in 2017, 24.8 million are at least 4 years old: The French government’s incentives program on the purchase of clean vehicles will speed the process for phasing out the oldest vehicles driving on French roads. However, since the price of a clean passenger vehicle is expensive, the phase-out is proceeding slowly.
U.S. exporters must comply with EU and national legislation regarding type approvals of vehicle parts and components, which can differ significantly from the U.S. Information can be found on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s European Union website: www.export.gov/europeanunion
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The Centre National de Réception des Véhicules / CRNV is the official French body in charge of new vehicle approval. For vehicles already registered, the official French body in charge is the Direction Régionale & Interdépartementale de l’Environnement & de l’Energie / DRIEE, located in each region of France.
If testing is necessary, the independent UTAC group provides services in all areas of land transportation: Regulation and Approval, testing and technical expertise (environment, safety, durability and reliability), certification, events and driver training: www.utacceram.com
While many after-market car products, such as car wax or window tinting, are not addressed in EU automotive regulations, they may be subject to other EU legislations such as REACH whenever chemical mixtures have to meet national requirements of individual member countries.