Can you train our technicians to repair the cars?

The question is whether we can teach your people to repair the car. Our answer is that we can teach method, not grant authority. Between those two sentences sits an entire OEM authorisation system.

Training content in three tiers

You cannot stick the authorised label on yourself

The Anti-Unfair Competition Law, revised in 2025 and in force from 15 October 2025: Article 7 prohibits using another party's influential name without authorisation in a way that suggests a specific connection; Article 9 prohibits false or misleading commercial statements about quality or honours received. Article 43 of the Trademark Law requires a licence contract, quality supervision by the licensor, the licensee's own name and origin marked on the goods, and recordal with the Trademark Office. Brand names and logos in course materials and certificates likewise need a licence first.

Data export: list what you send first

The Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-Border Data Flows, in force from 22 March 2024, opened exemption routes: data not notified or published as important data does not need an important-data security assessment (Article 2); data collected in cross-border transport, multinational manufacturing and similar activities that contains no personal information or important data is exempt from filing (Article 3); a non-CIIO that exports personal information of fewer than 100,000 individuals in the year is also exempt (Article 5).

But the scope must be stated: the Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone negative list, 2024 edition, automotive sector, classifies after-sales data — electronic control unit information, firmware configuration information, reprogramming-related data, diagnostic tool data, and vehicle key (including app) data — as important data requiring a security assessment. That is a free-trade-zone standard, not a national catalogue; outside the zone, Article 2 still governs.

On the destination side: Kenya's DPA 2019 section 48 requires proof of appropriate safeguards or a necessity ground, section 49 requires consent for sensitive personal data, and section 50 allows certain processing to be confined to servers in Kenya; Nigeria's NDPA 2023 section 41 requires the recipient to be bound by law or contract providing an adequate level of protection, section 42 lists six adequacy factors, and section 43 sets out the exceptions. As of 2026, the NDPC has not issued an adequacy list.

In practice: VIN plus fault codes alone is generally not personal data; adding the owner's name, phone number or location track makes it personal data; sending firmware configuration and diagnostic tool data may count as important data under the free-trade-zone list.

Four steps

Five traps

• ✓Describing an OEM engineer's class as "OEM-authorised training"
• ✓Printing brand names and logos on certificates without a trademark licence
• ✓Demonstrating flashing with a generic scan tool, implying OEM authority
• ✓Sending owner data and ECU data together in remote diagnosis, with no list
• ✓Treating the free-trade-zone list as a national rule and misadvising customers outside the zone

Bottom line

Whether to run training depends on how well the method can be taught; whether to carry the authorised label depends on a piece of paper. Where authority cannot be given, say so — customers are then more willing to hand you the car.

Run the landed cost for the destination; the on-site import duty calculator (/en/duty-calculator) gives a rough figure. For how the repair network and parts work, see "Is it hard to repair a Chinese car in Africa?".