Authentication Emergency
Car importers in South Korea are having difficulties in preparing certification documents in the wake of tampering of certification documents by Volkswagen Korea. The Ministry of Environment of the country has become extremely meticulous in paperwork and this is hindering the prediction of when their document will be accepted for the sale of their new models. Under the circumstances, they are predicted to file for certification all at once late this year.
Volvo Korea, which released the S90 on September 26, has yet to complete the process for it. The company submitted documents for its diesel models in July but the Motor Vehicle Emission Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Environmental Research under the ministry has not given a green light. In the past, the process used to take only a couple of weeks.
Nissan Korea began to receive preorders for the new Infiniti QX60 in August and has delivered it to no customer at all so far. This is because the ministry requested more documents for certification. Mercedes Benz had to spend three months for the authorization of the new E-class diesel. It was planning to release the gasoline and diesel models at the same time in June but failed to do so.
FCA Korea submitted documents for the diesel version of the 2016 Jeep Cherokee to the lab in October last year but had to spend 10 more months. The Citroen C4 Cactus was released last month, more than half a year later than previously planned.
An official at the Ministry of Environment recently explained that it would increase the number of official in charge of the certification next year. At present, 17 officials are engaged in the works.