How FSD gets approved in Europe — national recognition vs the EU vote
Every European approval so far rests on one Dutch decision. Here's how mutual recognition, Article 39 and the TCMV qualified majority fit together.
On 10 April 2026 the Dutch vehicle authority RDW granted FSD (Supervised) a provisional EU type approval under Article 39 of Regulation 2018/858. Article 39 is the route for new technology that existing rules — here UN Regulation 171 on driver-control assistance systems — don’t fully cover.
That approval is valid only in the Netherlands. From there, there are two paths.
Path 1: national recognition
Any member state can recognise the provisional approval on its own territory. This is how every other approval has happened:
| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| Netherlands | 10 Apr 2026 (original) |
| Lithuania | 20 May 2026 |
| Estonia | 29 May 2026 |
| Denmark | 9 Jun 2026 |
| Belgium | 10 Jun 2026 |
| Slovenia | 7 Sep 2026 |
| Czechia | 21 Sep 2026 |
| Croatia | 28 Sep 2026 |
Some countries recognised the file with no testing of their own; Denmark reviewed the documentation first, and Belgium ran about 5,000 km of local tests.
Path 2: the EU-wide vote
The Netherlands has asked the European Commission to extend the authorisation to the whole EU. That needs a qualified majority in the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV): at least 15 of 27 states representing at least 65% of the EU population. A blocking minority needs at least four states.
The committee discussed the file in May and June without voting. Tesla pointed to 6 October for a vote, but that agenda lists discussion only, which makes December the earliest opportunity.
The six-month catch
Article 39 approvals are provisional. If the EU ultimately rejects the request, the Dutch approval — and every national recognition built on it — can lapse. That risk is why Germany, France, Italy and others say they prefer a coordinated EU decision.
Beyond the EU
Norway takes part in scrutiny through the EEA but has no vote, and its regulators say they may run their own review. Switzerland and the UK must approve separately. In the UK, the likely routes are a VCA review of the RDW package or a standard UN R171 approval once the new Series 02 rules take effect, expected in early 2027.
See the live tracker for each country’s current status.