70. The representative of the Russian Federation introduced WP.29-163-17, containing amendments to the proposed amendments to UN Rules 1 and 2 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/132 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/133). WP.29 agreed on a detailed discussion of WP.29-163-17 at its next session in November 2014 and requested the secretariat to distribute it with an official symbol. The representative of CITA was invited to prepare a document with the differences between the proposals for amendments to UN Rules Nos. 1 and 2, as modified by WP.29-163-17, and the recently adopted EU Directive (2014/45/EU) on this matter. The representatives of Finland and the Netherlands expressed their preference for aligning the date of entry into force of both the EU Directive and the draft amendments to UN Rules Nos. 1 and 2. The Vice-Chair proposed to investigate the use of transitional provisions addressing the comment expressed above.

71. WP.29 considered the future of the Agreement. The Chair recalled that six out of the twelve Contracting Parties to the Agreement were EU member States and that any divergence between the UN Rules and the corresponding EU Directive would not be acceptable for them. He noted that, out of the non-EU Contracting Parties, only the Russian Federation regularly attended the session of WP.29, and that this situation was reflected by the problems of regular quorum at the Administrative Committee (AC.4). He echoed the discussion on item 4.4 and commented that this experience should be taken into account when defining a position on the proxy vote in the draft Revision 3 to the 1958 Agreement. Finally, he invited the EU to clarify its position concerning this Agreement. The representative of EU answered that the European Commission had clarified five years ago its position against the ratification of this Agreement, justified by the divergence between the juridical consequences of the 1997 Agreement and the European Union legislation. The Chair proposed to investigate possibilities to revise the 1997 Agreement. WP.29 requested CITA to investigate possible improvements of the Agreement.