What the document is
A United Nations regulation, administered by the UNECE, that sets out how a protective helmet for motorcyclists is to be tested and what it must satisfy to be approved. It is applied by national approval authorities, and a helmet that passes carries a label recording the approval, the series of amendments and the country that granted it. The text itself is published by the UNECE, and that publication — not a comparison page — is where the individual test values live.
What it covers, beyond impacts
The impact testing is the part everyone knows, but the regulation is broader: it also addresses the retention system and its fastening, the visor and its optical properties, the field of view left to the rider, and the labelling itself. A helmet is approved as a whole object, which is why a replacement visor from another maker is outside what was approved.
How the 06 series differs from the 05
A series of amendments revises what is tested rather than how strictly a single test is marked. The 06 series is the current one and was introduced to update the programme; the 05 series preceded it. During a transition, stock approved to the earlier series continues to be sold legally, which is why two helmets on the same shelf can carry different series and both be current. The series is printed on the strap label, and reading it is the only way to know which document a given helmet was approved against.
The distinction this site keeps
Two helmets carrying the same approval are not equivalent. The regulation sets thresholds, not scores: a sample that passed well inside a limit and one that barely cleared it carry the same mark, and nothing in the marking distinguishes them. The approval is a record of a test programme, and it does not undertake an outcome for a rider.
What it does not address at all
Fit. Nothing in the regulation measures the internal shape of a shell against the shape of a head, and fit is what decides whether a helmet stays where it should and whether it is worn for four hours. That question is settled by wearing a helmet, not by reading its label.
Questions riders send in about this
Is a 22.06 helmet safer than a 22.05 one?
It was approved against a document with a different test programme. That is a difference in what was measured, not a measured difference between two helmets, and neither series tells you what will happen in a fall.
Where is the approval printed?
On a label attached to the retention strap, with the series of amendments and the country that granted it.
Does it cover replacement visors?
A helmet is approved as a whole, with its own visor. A visor from another maker is outside that approval, which is a separate matter from whether it physically fits.
Last reviewed 18 September 2026