SECTION 18.2-270.2. Ignition interlock system; certification by Commission on VASAP; regulations; sale or lease; monitoring use; reports  

A. The Executive Director of the Commission on VASAP or his designee shall, pursuant to approval by the Commission, certify ignition interlock systems for use in this Commonwealth and adopt regulations and forms for the installation, maintenance and certification of such ignition interlock systems.

The regulations adopted shall include requirements that ignition interlock systems:

1. Do not impede the safe operation of the vehicle;

2. Minimize opportunities to be bypassed, circumvented or tampered with, and provide evidence thereof;

3. Correlate accurately with established measures of blood alcohol content and be calibrated according to the manufacturer's specifications;

4. Work accurately and reliably in an unsupervised environment;

5. Have the capability to provide an accurate written measure of blood alcohol content for each ignition, attempted ignition, and rolling retest, and record each attempt to circumvent or tamper with the equipment;

6. Minimize inconvenience to other users;

7. Be manufactured or distributed by an entity responsible for installation, user training, service, and maintenance, and meet the safety and operational requirements promulgated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration;

8. Operate reliably over the range of motor vehicle environments or motor vehicle manufacturing standards;

9. Be manufactured by an entity which is adequately insured against liability, in an amount established by the Commission, including product liability and installation and maintenance errors;

10. Provide for an electronic log of the driver's experience with the system with an information management system capable of electronically delivering information to the agency supervising the interlock user within twenty-four hours of the collection of such information from the datalogger; and

11. Provide for a rolling retest of the operator's blood alcohol content.

Such regulations shall also provide for the establishment of a fund, using a percentage of fees received by the manufacturer or distributor providing ignition interlock services, to afford persons found by the court to be indigent all or part of the costs of an ignition interlock system.

The Commission shall design and adopt a warning label to be affixed to an ignition interlock system upon installation. The warning label shall state that a person tampering with, or attempting to circumvent the ignition interlock system shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine or incarceration or both.

The Commission shall publish a list of certified ignition interlock systems and shall ensure that such systems are available throughout the Commonwealth. The local alcohol safety action program shall make the list available to eligible offenders, who shall have the responsibility and authority to choose which certified ignition interlock company will supply the offender's equipment. A manufacturer or distributor of an ignition interlock system that seeks to sell or lease the ignition interlock system to persons subject to the provisions of § 18.2-270.1 shall pay the reasonable costs of obtaining the required certification, as set forth by the Commission.

B. A person may not sell or lease or offer to sell or lease an ignition interlock system to any person subject to the provisions of § 18.2-270.1 unless:

1. The system has been certified by the Commission; and

2. The warning label adopted by the Commission is affixed to the system.

C. A manufacturer or distributor of an ignition interlock system shall provide such services as may be required at no cost to the Commonwealth. Such services shall include a toll free, twenty-four-hour telephone number for the users of ignition interlock systems.

1995, c. 18.2-270.1 ; 2000, cc. 18.2-270.1 , 18.2-270.1 .