The RDW verifies whether the manufacturer has taken adequate measures to guarantee that vehicles, systems, parts or technical units are produced conform to the approved type.  

Assessment of the production process

If you are a manufacturer of motor vehicles, trailers, systems, parts and/or separate technical units for the automotive sector, you must have EC, ECE or national type-approvals in order to sell/register products in the EU and/or countries that have signed an ECE agreement.  

As a manufacturer, you must show that the products are made in accordance with the type  approved products. By sending the documents, as required by the RDW, to guarantee that the products are made in accordance with the type  approved products and therefore also meets the requirements laid down in the legislation.
As soon as the CoP has been accepted, the RDW issues a Compliance Statement. Herewith you show that the RDW has assessed your production process and has accepted it for production in accordance with the relevant type-approval specifications. 

Without a valid Compliance Statement, you cannot apply for a type-approval. 

You can apply for a CoP or notify a change by using the Conformity of Production (CoP) form. You can request this form by sending an email to [email protected]  

Supervision of the production process

The RDW supervises the production process in order to determine whether you, as the manufacturer, continue to comply with the approval requirements after applying for a type-approval certificate. 9 months before a Compliance Statement expires, RDW will contact you if you have been selected for a CoP audit. The RDW has designated partners to act on behalf of the RDW when conducting CoP audits. This means that the selected manufacturers could also expect an audit to be conducted by the partners instead of the RDW. 6 months before a Compliance Statement expires, the partner contacts the manufacturer for a CoP audit. After the audit has been carried out, the audit report will be send to the RDW and the RDW decides whether the Compliance Statement will be extended.  

The selection is based on the estimated risks. Risk-Based Supervision consists of a risk score of all known manufacturers on the basis of the following 5 criteria:

1. The manufacturer is ISO certified or accredited.
2. Results achieved during previous assessments.
3. The type of product.
4. The time since the last physical audit on location at the manufacturer’s.
5. Product deviations and complaints known to RDW.  

As the manufacturer, you can influence a number of these criteria. Good scores during assessments, ISO certification and the correct products contribute directly to a low risk score and therefore less strict supervision by RDW. If the score shows that you constitute a lower risk as a manufacturer, you will receive an email with a number of questions three months before the Compliance Statement expires. In that case, the RDW will assess your replies to this email together with the attached documents. If the documents meet the requirements set, you will receive a positive assessment directly. The RDW will then extend  the existing Compliance Statement by a maximum of 1 year and issue an extension of the current Compliance Statement with a new term of validity.

The RDW charges a contribution fee for manufacturers with the status of holder of valid EC (e4), ECE (E4) or national type-approvals. An explanation of the charge is provided in the Admission costs and Contribution fee. (pdf, 9kb)   

The information document for obtaining/retaining the CoP contains specific information on the requirements, assessments and procedures of the RDW. This document can be requested by sending an email to [email protected]