98. The representative of the United States of America informed AC.3 on the outcome of the fifth meeting of the IWG on Quiet Road Transport Vehicles (Tokyo, 10-12 December 2013), which was attended by stakeholders from governments, consumer advocacy groups and industry. He added that the IWG had addressed each element of the draft UN GTR and had identified difficulties in a number of areas. He reported that various views and positions had been explained in a document that facilitated discussions and decision-making at GRB or AC.3. He concluded that several smaller and more focused task force meetings had been conducted to consider all views and positions and that the results of these meetings would be consolidated in a document for consideration at the next session of the IWG (Washington, D.C., 13-15 May 2014).

99. The secretariat reported on the outcome of the discussions on this matter by GRB at its February 2014 session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRB/57, paras. 25 and 26). He added that during that GRB session, the expert from the World Blind Union (WBU) had highlighted three key elements of Audible Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) for people with impaired vision: (i) the alert sound should be of a sufficient volume and its composition (frequency, etc.) should allow for location and identification of the movement of the vehicle; (ii) the system should be active on stationary vehicles; and (iii) the AVAS should not be switched off.