DIAMOND BAR, Calif., May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMA, the Specialty Equipment
Market Association, has taken its campaign to protect specialty equipment
markets worldwide to Venezuela where, in a disturbing development, the
government has imposed new requirements on custom wheels sold in that country.
The new standard is so restrictive that its effect will be to make the sale of
non-Venezuelan wheels into that market not economically feasible.
Linda Spencer, director of government and international relations for the
association, said, "We conclude that the proposed standard is unnecessary and
would result in costly and burdensome requirements with little or no resulting
benefit."
The United States government has filed a demarche (official protest) about
the standard with the Venezuelan government in tandem with SEMA's protest.
The U.S. government called upon the Venezuelan officials to "work with us to
ensure that this standard does not inadvertently become a significant non-
tariff barrier."
Virtually all international manufacturers of wheels already meet the
highest standards and currently comply with ISO, TUV, or similar global
quality standards, according to Spencer's protest which urged the Venezuelan
government to accept test results verifying compliance with recognized
international standards.
The custom wheel market in Venezuela is relatively small compared with the
market size in other countries, Spencer said. "These regulations would shut
many respected manufacturers out of the country's market. That's certainly
going against the trend toward free trade among nations of the North and South
American continents," she said.
Recently, SEMA successfully led a similar campaign to keep the Mexican
custom wheel market, estimated at $800,000 annually, open to companies wishing
to import their products into that NAFTA partner country. While the Mexican
government withdrew their initial standard at the urging of SEMA and other
companies, Mexican officials are determined to implement a wheel standard and
SEMA has been invited to assist in the drafting of that new regulation.
SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, represents the
$27 billion specialty automotive industry. Founded in 1963, the trade
association has more than 4,500 member companies. It is the authoritative
source of research data, trends and market growth information for automakers
and the specialty auto products industry. The industry provides appearance,
performance, comfort, convenience and technology products for passenger cars,
minivans, trucks, SUVs and recreational vehicles. For more information,
contact SEMA at 1575 S. Valley Vista Dr., Diamond Bar, CA, 91765-3914; call
909/396-0289; or visit http://www.sema.org or http://www.enjoythedrive.com .
SOURCE SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association)
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Related links:
http://www.sema.org
http://www.enjoythedrive.com
CONTACT:
media, Linda Spencer, +1-202-783-4032,
lindas@sema.org , or Rosemarie Kitchin, +1-909-396-0289, ext.
104, rosemariek@sema.org , both of SEMA
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