Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is aware of the delays in providing approval from the National Standards Authority of Ireland for products being produced; that these delays are resulting in Irish businesses losing contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18887/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The responsibility for the EU Directive 2007/46/EC governing motor vehicles type approvals lies with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, and its Agency, the Road Safety Authority.

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is the Irish approval authority for this and related Directives.

The NSAI accepts that in the absence of the appropriate approval a business is unable to register a vehicle which impacts on the ability to place the vehicle on the market or complete contracts for delivery.

The optimum processing and approval time for motor vehicles is two weeks

The processing time reflects the technical nature of the approvals process, the requirement on industry to build in an adequate provision for the automotive approvals timescale and the increased registration of new vehicles at the start of the year and at the mid-year registration cycle also.

These conditions, coupled with resourcing constraints, have led to current approvals times of approximately four weeks.

The timelines are dependent on submission of complete and accurate information accompanying the application. It may be prudent therefore, for companies to build in a contingency timescale to allow for clarifications and/or the provision of additional information.

NSAI recognises that the current lead times are the cause of concerns for the industry and has implemented actions to continue to reduce the processing time. NSAI went to tender for the provision of technical assessors, who commenced in January 2015. However, it is not possible to rapidly increase processing capacity as the sourcing and induction of engineers takes a period of approximately 6 months before they become competent in the approvals process. While new personnel have been engaged through these outsourcing arrangements this has yet to fully impact on the processing times.

Taking the additional resources into account, and subject to whatever surges in applications that may occur, the NSAI continues to work towards the optimal processing time.