Judge says regulator shows ‘bias’ in brake pad tests

The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) may head to court to defend its reputation after a high court judge found that it had shown “clear bias” in a process to safety test car brake pads.

NRCS, which is mandated to uphold national technical standards, is contemplating going to the Supreme Court of Appeal or the Constitutional Court to seek to reverse the ruling.

The high court not only ruled against the statutory body but ordered it to return stocks of the brake pads, which had been seized, to the manufacturer.

The stock had not been returned at the time of going to press.

No stopping brake pad matter

The legal wrangle was initiated by automotive parts distributor Sparepro against NRCS and direct competitor GUD Holdings.

GUD Holdings lodged a complaint with NRCS about Sparepro’s Kratex brand brake pads in March 2021.

GUD claimed that the pads did not meet compulsory safety standards despite the company producing various global safety ratings and approvals to the regulator.

The regulator then awarded the contract for testing the pad to ECE 90, a subsidiary of GUD.

This information was not disclosed by NRCS.

GUD manufactures the Safeline brand of brake pads.

A spokesperson for Sparepro said: “We only became aware quite late into the legal process when GUD’s attorneys provided an unredacted copy of the e-mail complaint from ECE 90.

“The complainant and testing laboratory were one and the same.”

By September 2021, the test results from ECE 90 suggested that Sparepro’s brake pads did not meet the legally required standards.

The NRCS issued directives based on the GUD Holdings’ subsidiary findings, prohibiting Sparepro from selling Kratex brake pads.

It also seized the company’s entire stockholding.

Sparepro’s spokesperson said: “Without any information on the origin of the complaint or failure of our product, it was very difficult to address any noncompliance in the first instance.”

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NRCS says it took action to keep motorists safe

Vongani Tivani of the NRCS said the steps were taken to keep unsafe brake pads off the roads.

“Sparepro was given many opportunities to satisfy the regulator’s concerns through providing it with a plan for corrective action. It failed to do so.”

Yet Sparepro said the NRCS refused to allow testing of new samples, saying they could not rule out tampering with initial samples in their possession.

Sparepro later turned to the courts for protection against what it said was clear uncompetitive bias.

In her June ruling, High Court in Johannesburg Judge Brenda Neukircher ruled in favour of Sparepro and later rebuffed an application for appeal by NRCS.

Neukircher said that there was clear bias at play and ordered NRCS to return all seized Kratex stock and to provide the necessary authority to Sparepro to resume sales.

Sparepro said no effort has been made by the regulator to comply with the ruling.

Tivani said that the regulator conducted its investigation properly and is considering the appropriate course of action.

A GUD spokesperson denied the company had been biased in conducting the testing, adding had any other laboratory conducted it, the result would have been the same.

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