SEMA's Battle for Wheel Standards Rolls Into Venezuela

DIAMOND BAR, Calif., May 2 -- 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 www.sema.org or www.enjoythedrive.com .