MiscellaneousBolivia: New regulation for automotive lubricants

Bolivia: New regulation for automotive lubricants

Bolivia has published a new Regulation on the quality of prepared lubricants (Reglamento de Calidad de Lubricantes Terminados).

The Regulation is applicable to those natural or legal persons, whether public or private, that produce, transport, store, import or market prepared lubricants throughout the national territory.

The purpose of the notified Regulation is to establish the quality specifications of prepared lubricants when they are produced, transported, stored, imported and marketed as prepared lubricants in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, as well as to prevent practices likely to mislead consumers owing to the marketing of these products without the corresponding quality specifications. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following products are considered prepared lubricants:

• Automotive lubricants for petrol engines;
• Automotive lubricants for diesel engines;
• Lubricants for automatic transmission for use in motor vehicles;
• Lubricants for gears and mechanical transmissions for use in motor vehicles;
• Lubricants for industrial and other uses;
• Lubricating greases.

Some of the relevant regulations and standards are:

1. Decreto Supremo N° 28419, de 21 de octubre de 2005, que establece requisitos técnicos y legales para la importación de productos refinados regulados y no regulados, y el procedimiento para obtener la autorización de importación;
2. ASTM D445. Standard Test Method for Kinematic Viscosity of Transparent and Opaque Liquids (and Calculation of Dynamic Viscosity);
3. ASTM D7042. Standard Test Method for Dynamic Viscosity and Density of Liquids by Stabinger Viscometer (and the Calculation of Kinematic Viscosity);
4. ASTM D2270. Standard Practice for Calculating Viscosity Index from Kinematic Viscosity at 40 °C and 100 °C;
5. ASTM D92. Standard Test Method for Flash and Fire Points by Cleveland Open Cup Tester;
6. ASTM D1500. Standard Test Method for ASTM Color of Petroleum Products (ASTM Color Scale);
7. ASTM D130. Standard Test Method for Corrosiveness to Copper from Petroleum Products by Copper Strip Test;
8. ASTM D217. Standard Test Methods for Cone Penetration of Lubricating Grease;
9. ASTM D556. Specification for Materials for Soil-Aggregate Sub-base, Base and Surface Courses;
10. ASTM D2265. Standard Test Method for Dropping Point of Lubricating Grease Over Wide Temperature Range;
11. NLGI STANDARD. Classification of lubricating greases by consistency;
12. API STANDARD. Classification of quality categories for lubricants for automotive use.

The measure enters into force on 15 January 2024.

A full text can be found HERE.

To find out more about vehicle regulations in Bolivia, please contact the Institute for Global Automotive Regulatory Research directly.