Safety Standards

Canadian Vehicle Safety Regulations

Transport Canada promulgates and enforces federal road safety and motor vehicle regulations under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (MVSA). This Act regulates the manufacture and importation of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment to reduce risk of death, injury and damage to property and the environment.

Proposed regulations, along with their impact analysis statements, are published in the Canada Gazette Part I for the purposes of notifying the public and of inviting input from stakeholders. A Regulatory Steering Committee representing stakeholder interests then reviews these regulatory proposals after fully taking into account comments made by various parties. Approved regulations are finally published in the Canada Gazette Part II, and are then enforced.

Conformity of technical standards in Canada is based on a "self-certification" system by manufacturers, as opposed to the European, Japanese and Australian system of "type-approval". Under the self-certification system, automobile manufacturers certify that every vehicle or vehicle part meets all applicable requirements.

Despite self-certification, compliance investigations are held from time to time to ensure that federal regulations are met. After such an investigation, Transport Canada may impose its administrative procedures, under which manufacturers are expected to bring all affected vehicles into conformity. National trade marks and labels are used to indicate that the vehicles comply with the MVSA. No company can ship vehicles from one province to another unless it has a national safety mark applied in accordance with the MVSA. In addition, no company can import vehicles or equipment into Canada unless they conform to the standards prescribed for their class. However, vehicles purchased in the United States that do not meet the safety requirements at the time of purchase can be imported into Canada provided they meet the requirements before they are presented for registration under the laws of a province.

For specific safety standards, visit the website of Transport Canada under the area of Road Safety.