SERMI was launched in October 2023 with Sweden being the first country to implement the scheme. This will be followed in February with SERMI being implemented in Norway, Denmark and Finland, and will be further rolled out across Europe throughout the year. What is SERMI? According to the European Directive (EU) No 2018/858, vehicle manufacturers are required to provide unrestricted and standardised access to repair and maintenance information (RMI) to independent operators (IOs) and remote service suppliers (RSS). However, the legislation notes that access to security-related RMI may be subject to specific security standards and certificates. The legislation specifically defines security-related RMI as information, software, functions and services necessary for repairing and maintaining vehicle features that prevent theft, enable vehicle tracking, and facilitate recovery. As a result, the regulation has specified the introduction of a scheme known as SERMI to enable a one-stop shop for accreditation for access to security information across all vehicle manufacturers as opposed to having to be accredited by each VM to access their security information. What does this mean in practice? Introduction of SERMI will mean that the user will be accredited on the scheme by a national body in each market. Accreditation will be based on a combination of the repairer and the user meeting certain criteria. The workshop will be accredited and will be audited by the national certification body. The vehicle manufacturer will introduce controls to restrict access to security-related information to certified end users. In practice, when technicians need to access security-related information, they will have to open their SERMI App to identify themselves and pass their credentials to the OE tool which will then validate them and allow access. 28 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2024 TECHNICAL www.aftermarketonline.net SERMI is going to change the way garages access security related repair and maintenance information BY Phil Peace, Managing Director, Repairify SERMI EXPLAINED There is also a process to do this with a RSS (Remote Service Provider) such as Repairify. When will the scheme be implemented in the UK? As discussed, the scheme will initially be implemented in European markets with roll out over the next few months. In terms of the UK, due to our positioning outside of the EU, SERMI will not be introduced into legislation as it is in Europe. However, our understanding is that the scheme will be introduced within 3-6 months but will be done on a voluntary basis. Information received to date is that the UK vehicle manufacturers are largely supportive of the introduction of the scheme. Following extensive work with SERMI and the respective industry bodies, Repairify has incorporated the requirements into its processes, and we are confident in complying with the regulation as it rolls out in the various European markets as well as the UK.
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