What is SERMI?

According to regulation (EU) no. 2018/858, which came into effect in 2020, vehicle manufacturers are obliged to grant independent operators, such as independent shops or editors of technical information unlimited and standardized access to repair and service information (RMI).

Special provisions have been determined for the access to the safety functions of a vehicle. Access to safety-relevant repair and service information (RMI) shall be granted to independent operators, however, by protecting the safety standards and security certificates and under the condition that independent operators and their employees are certified for this purpose by having specific documents and specifications.

For this purpose and according to article 13 paragraph 9 of the Regulation (EG) no. 692/2008 and article 66 of the Regulation (EU) no. 2018/858 the "EU forum for the access to vehicle information" has been founded. The goal is the development of a uniform accreditation system and a process structure across Europe which shall help independent operators to service and repair vehicles in a safe manner if the safety features of the vehicles (e.g. software updates) are affected.

The implementation has been officially postponed at the beginning of July and will start now on the 1 October 2023, starting with Sweden. Other countries can also start if they have a so called CAB (conformity assessment body). As the start at a certain date cannot be realized for all countries in the ECU, the countries will start in 2 month intervals between the 1 October 2023 and the 1 August 2023.

The non-EU countries Norway and UK also intend to join the SERMI Regulation. In Switzerland, there is a discussion about a potential participation. The data for starting the process in these countries is still unknown.

It is still unknown how to access in practice to anti-theft and safety-relevant vehicle information in the manufacturer portals. It is hence still unknown how a shop can access SERMI-relevant data either directly or via Hella Gutmann.

So far we merely know that a request for the validity of the electronic certificate takes place between the vehicle manufacturer and the so called "trust center" from the SERMI scheme. Employees of a company will receive this electronic certificate after their licensing and authorization through an app directly on their smartphone. The license is valid for 5 years.

The following companies are affected by the certification process:

• Repair shops,
• Producers or dealers of shop equipment, tools or spare parts,
• Editors of technical information,
• Automobile associations,
• Roadside assistance services,
• Providers of service work and test services,
• Institutions for training and advanced training of mechanics,
• Producers and repair teams of vehicle equipment,

SERMI will mainly affect the vehicle categories M (vehicles for passenger transportation), N (vehicles for transport of goods), and O (trailers). For certain vehicles, the manufacturer can apply for a type approval or single vehicle approval provided that these vehicles fulfil the requirements of this regulation. This is valid e.g. for vehicles which are designed and produced for the predominant use on construction sites or in harbors / airports.

Hella Gutmann is also affected by the SERMI regulation and will get the SERMI certification as company and for the technical employees involved in that as we also require information from the manufacturers which are necessary for our Technical Help Line and the macsRemote services.

We do not know the concrete effects on our products and services yet, because we and the whole workshop sector no not know details for the modified processing of vehicle information.

A message with a QR-code appears if SERMI-relevant contents are retrieved in the manufacturer portal. Then this code is scanned with the SERMI app and the retrieval is released.

Currently it is unknown how this can work in case of a request of a shop via Hella Gutmann. We merely know that both partners have to get the certification.

The conformity assessment bodies of every country will inform you about the specific documents and information that you require to get the certification as company and as employee of this company.

In general a country requires a certificate that confirms that the company is part of the automotive sector and that it a has a certain insurance coverage. If necessary, the employees shall submit a certificate of good conduct. Furthermore you will require a device on which the SERMI app is installed with your profile.

At present there are no conformity assessment bodies (CAB) for your country.

A list of all conformity assessment bodies (CAB) of all EU countries is located here:
https://www.vehiclesermi.eu/req.html#req

There is no information if the conformity assessment bodies (CAB) of the non-EU countries are going to be published on this website.

There is no information about the costs of certification so far as there is currently no CAB, too.

Indeed the SERMI argument is similar to the justification of some manufacturers for the access lock to the system data of their latest vehicle models à la Security Gateway. The first here was the Fiat-Chrysler Group. The others followed the trend. As an answer to this trend Hella Gutmann has made huge efforts to implement the function Cyber Security Management (CSM) function (free for shops) into the mega macs software. A function which is worth a mint because communication with the secured vehicles would no longer be possible without it. Finally Cyber Security of Hella Gutmann marks the worldwide access to modern vehicles of 13 makes, to enable access for selected diagnostic procedures such as trouble code deletion with the diagnostic device.

The SERMI regulation is somewhat different: In particular it deals with the access to anti-theft and safety-relevant RMI in the manufacturer portals. Moreover, the EU type approval regulation 2018/858 affects all vehicle manufacturers and their vehicles which are in the market in the 27 EU countries.

Should there be any overlaps during single work steps, we will inform you about that, too.