Thatcham and Autopolis, the motor industry consultants, have issued a report to the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on safety issues surrounding non-original (non-OEM) body parts.

The paper was commissioned to help determine whether existing legislation and regulation is rigorous enough to protect the safety of road users.

It concluded that the approaches in place are “more than adequate” to ensure vehicle safety.

“There is no statistical or notable anecdotal evidence of safety-related problems with non-original body repair parts, as concerns the protection of the occupants of vehicles in the event of a crash,” says the report.

Robert Hadfield, body-shop industry consultant, says: “The report implies that it’s not the parts that are the problem but how the vehicle is repaired. This could have serious implications for the body repair sector and is where the PAS 125 comes into the equation.”

Lesley Upham, director of communications at Thatcham, says: “The UK body repair sector is one of the best in the world and I am confident that the industry is fitting parts correctly.”

The Legal Affairs Committee is expected to announce its conclusions on the report later this year.