One Badge, Every Brand: Europe Moves to Standardise How Independent Garages Reach Vehicle Security Data
Published on 09/26/2026 at 03:01 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Independent repair shops across Europe are about to get a single, harmonised route into the security-related technical information they need to service modern cars — replacing a patchwork of brand-by-brand registrations that has long frustrated the sector.
The system, known as SERMI, was reported on by the industry portal auto-motor-und-sport.de on 25.09.2026. Its purpose is to unify access for independent automotive businesses and their employees to security-relevant repair and maintenance information, governing how sensitive vehicle data is released through a standardised authorisation procedure across the EU.
The legal scaffolding
Two pieces of EU legislation underpin the arrangement. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1244 supplies the operative legal basis, supplementing the European type-approval regulation (EU) 2018/858. Together, the framework is designed to set uniform conditions under which independent operators can obtain the information they need for maintenance work — without compromising vehicle security or protection against theft.
What changes on the workshop floor
For German workshops, the practical benefit lies mainly in cross-brand workflows. A garage that services and repairs vehicles from a range of manufacturers currently has to register separately with each marque. Under a centralised system, that duplication disappears.
Authorisation under SERMI gives businesses and their qualified staff a harmonised path to the specific security data each job requires.
Rollout, certification — and the limits
Implementation is proceeding through country-by-country rollouts, and it comes with structured certification processes for both the business and the personnel carrying out the work. The scheme is not a blanket requirement for every electronic task on a modern vehicle, however: it explicitly does not apply across the board to every software update.
That means workshops have to assess case by case whether a given task counts as security-relevant repair and maintenance information — and therefore whether it triggers the specific certification route.
