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ECE/EEC Marking: Headlamp Suitability for Traffic Direction

This is a very important marking. All low ("passing", "lower", "dipped") beams are an asymmetrical distribution of light to give maximum seeing in the direction of travel while controlling glare light directed towards oncoming traffic. A headlamp intended for use in traffic that flows on the right side of the road must never be used on the left side of the road, nor must a left-traffic headlamp ever be used on the right side of the road. A wrong-side-of-road headlamp does not provide adequate illumination for the driver to see what he needs to see in order to drive safely, and severely blinds oncoming traffic. This cannot be corrected by adjusting the aim of the lamp, because traffic-handedness is intrinsic in the optics of the lamp. This means it is very unsafe to use UK-spec, Australian-spec, or Japanese-spec ("JDM") headlamps in the United States, Canada, Continental Europe or any other location that drives on the right side of the road. Many performance parts dealers are illegally importing and selling JDM or wrong-side-of-road ECE headlamps into North America, and touting them as a "performance improvement". They may or may not have ECE headlamp markings, but they are not a performance improvement -- they are a danger.