For Immediate Release
Free from CVTA: a working method for Connected Vehicles Rule conformity
Detroit – August 5, 2026
The Commerce Department's Connected Vehicles Rule is no longer a theoretical concern — it's operational. For model year 2027, automakers and importers must certify, through a Declaration of Conformity filed ahead of each model year, that the hardware and software in a vehicle's connectivity (VCS) and automated-driving (ADS) systems were not designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of China or Russia. Hardware restrictions follow in 2030. The certification has to rest on documented due diligence reaching sub-tier suppliers, and the supporting records must be produced to BIS on demand.
The early signals are sobering. Polestar has already exited the U.S. market after it could not satisfactorily certify. Volvo — under the same corporate parent — was authorized after demonstrating its governance, technology-separation, and data-security practices. Commerce did not publish the criteria that split those two outcomes, and that is the essential lesson: what earns conformity is not a clean supplier list. It is a defensible, auditable governance record — one a reviewer can trace to its evidence.
To help our members meet that bar, CVTA is releasing — at no cost — the Connected-Vehicle Content Provenance & Conformity Protocol. It is a repeatable, auditable method to trace where your connectivity and automated-driving content actually comes from, determine whether any of it carries a prohibited nexus, and produce a certification package that supports your Declaration of Conformity — and, where needed, a Specific Authorization application.
The free download includes:
• The protocol — an eight-stage method, from freezing the covered items through building the case for a Specific Authorization.
• A record workbook — the registers and logs that hold your provenance, determinations, and evidence, bound by a single traceable ID spine.
• A conformity dossier template — the cover package that supports your Declaration of Conformity.
It is built on one principle: every certification claim resolves in two steps — from the claim, to the determination that supports it, to the evidence beneath it. It answers the question every audit, recall inquiry, and authorization reviewer will ask: why did you accept this, and can you show me?
Download the full package from the link below.
The rule expressly permits declarants to rely on qualified third-party assessments to prepare and maintain their conformity, and the protocol is built to serve exactly that role. If your organization would like to discuss a formal assessment against this methodology, reply to this note and we will follow up.
One note in fairness: the protocol is a compliance-operations methodology, not legal advice. The binding requirements live in the rule and BIS guidance, and any specific program should be confirmed with counsel.
We hope you'll put it to work.
Scott J. McCormick
President & CEO, Connected Vehicle Trade Association
About the Connected Vehicle Trade Association
Headquartered in East Lansing, Michigan, the CVTA is a non-profit business league established in 2004 to facilitate the interaction and advance the interests of the entities involved in the vehicle communication environment. The organization enables the collaboration of companies, organizations, and governmental bodies engaged in developing bidirectional vehicle communications. To learn more, visit www.connectedvehicle.org or contact Scott McCormick at sjm@connectedvehicle.org.
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