ERA-GLONASS prototype to be compulsory in Kazakhstan by 2017

ERA-GLONASS system will become compulsory for new cars starting from January 1, 2017 in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of Kazakhstan Ministry of Transport and Communications. The system of emergency calls in case of accidents and catastrophes was named EVAC in Kazakhstan. It will use signals of the global navigation satellite systems GPS and GLONASS. The plan is that EVAC will decrease the time of arrival of emergency services by 30 percent. “The special feature of EVAC system is that emergency services call devices are normally in standby mode and do not constantly transfer the information on the car's location. The signal on the car's location is transferred when the emergency call device is activated in case of a car accident or other incident on the road,” the Ministry wrote. The rules on equipment of cars with emergency call devices are set forth in the technical rules of the Customs Union that comes in effect on January 1, 2015. Starting from 2016 the system will have to be installed in the cars weighing over 2.5 tons, buses, trucks and special vehicles for transportation of hazardous cargoes. “According to the Technical Rules, the requirements of emergency call devices (systems) installation will be applicable to all other cars starting from January 1, 2017. The plan is that installation of the devices (systems) in the newly manufactured cars (produced starting from the above date) will be performed by the manufacturers,” the Ministry stated. This category includes the cars manufactured in Kazakhstan or imported from abroad for use in Kazakhstan. The authority added that Kazakhstan was working on development of common requirements to GLONASS-based devices. Introduction of liability for lack of such system is also under consideration. By Dmitriy Khegai