31. The expert from the Netherlands on behalf of the IWG on EDR/DSSAD introduced ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSG/2023/13, amended by GRSG-125-07, as a proposal for new UN Regulation on EDR for HDV.

32. The expert from Germany introduced GRSG-125-26 and shared views based upon data from the Federal Statistical Office of his country which showed that a significant proportion of accidents involving HDVs and VRUs occurred in the speed range below 50 km/h. Therefore, he suggested that improvements in road safety could be achieved if road accidents involving VRUs were better understood. He underlined that suitable triggers had been developed in the IWG (e.g. “last-stop triggers”), but were not accepted by all contracting parties. He stated that data from EDR-HDV would form the basis for future traffic safety research, especially for the protection of VRUs. He therefore supported the draft proposal of a new UN Regulation on EDR including the “last-stop-trigger” provision. The expert from EC supported the adoption of ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSG/2023/13, as amended by GRSG-125-07 including the above-mentioned provision as suggested by the expert from Germany.

33. The expert from the United States of America stated that her country had been an active member of IWG EDR at the technical level. She added that the group had been working hard to produce these documents (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSG/2023/13 and GRSG-125-07) under demanding timelines. She added that despite these efforts, and as indicated by the large amount of text between brackets in the EDR-HDV documents, much more work is required at the technical level. Moreover, she stated that the United States of America did not support the incomplete proposal (in the framework of the 1958 Agreement) moving forward until the IWG finished its work. She also said that her delegation does not consider these documents technically ready for review by GRSG. She underlined that there would be also many technical concerns and issues to discuss when IWG considered the common technical requirements document. Finally, she stated that her country is not a signatory to the 1958 Agreement, but due to the global nature of the automotive industry, her delegation knows that UN Regulations would still impact vehicle safety in 1998 Agreement countries, and she respectfully requested that GRSG sends these documents back to the IWG on EDR/DSSAD for more technical review.

34. The expert from OICA stated that the proposal contained open questions on data elements. He stressed the need of the automotive industry to have a clear vision for the future, and he stated that his organization was not in the position to support the proposal. The experts from Canada and the Netherlands recommended that IWG finalize the work on the remaining issues. The expert from EC expressed the need to adopt the new UN Regulation at the November 2023 session of WP.29 to trigger the same mandatory provisions under the General Safety Regulation of the European Union. He reminded GRSG that this need had been taken into consideration by WP.29, and that GRSG was invited by the World Forum to maintain a high pace on this issue (see ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1168, paragraph 39). The experts from China and Japan supported the position of the expert from EC. The Chair of GRSG suggested adopting ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSG/2023/13, amended by GRSG-125-07 to make progress. At the same time, he recommended that IWG provide an informal or an official document for the deadline of submission of GRSG official documents (18 July 2023), to enable discussion at the October 2023 session of GRSG. The expert from OICA introduced a road map (GRSG-125-36-Rev.1) on the way forward to guide IWG towards finalization of the proposal.

35. Finally, GRSG agreed on the way forward proposed by the Chair and by the expert from OICA, though GRSG-125-36-Rev.1 was not considered binding. Therefore, GRSG adopted the proposal and requested the secretariat to submit ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSG/2023/13, as amended by GRSG-125-07, as proposal of new UN Regulation concerning the Approval of Event Data Recorders for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to the November 2023 sessions of WP.29 and AC.1. However, it was expected to resume discussion on this proposal based on revised documents submitted by IWG at the October 2023 session of GRSG.