47. The expert from the Russian Federation, chairing the IWG on AECS, reported on the progress of work made by the group (GRSG-110-22). He drew the attention of GRSG to the controversial discussion of the experts on the performance requirements in the case of testing the resistance of accident emergency call devices to mechanical impact (pulse test). He presented the new draft UN Regulation on AECS (GRSG-110-15) and stated that this proposal was not yet the final version. He informed GRSG about the group’s decision to go forward in a two-step approach and announced the intention of the IWG to finalize the basic proposal by mid-July 2016 for submission to and adoption by GRSG at its next session in October 2016 on the basis of an official document.

48. GRSG welcomed the proposal submitted by the IWG. The expert from EC informed GRSG that the EU legislation on emergency call systems (eCall) had been based on an acceleration/deceleration of 65g. The expert from the Netherlands underlined the importance of AECS as a vehicle safety feature and the need to ensure their functionality in case of severe crashes. Thus, he expressed his preference to align the performance requirements of draft UN Regulation on AECS with those of the EU regulation. The experts from Japan and the Russian Federation raised their concern about the considerable costs of test equipment performing such acceleration/declaration of 65g. They were of the opinion that GRSG should take into account the economic burden for technical services. As a compromise solution, the expert from OICA suggested going forward in a two-step approach and adopting the new UN Regulation with the 60g value and subsequently to adopt the more stringent performance value of 65g as new series of amendments to the Regulation. The expert from CLEPA endorsed that position.

49. As GRSG could not find an agreement on this subject, the Chair of GRSG invited all experts to check on their national level the feasibility and durability of the 65g pulse test equipment and to send their comments including justifications on GRSG-110-15 at the latest by the end of June 2016 to the Secretary/Chair of the IWG. He also invited the experts from the EC, Japan and the Russian Federation to find compromise agreement on the performance value for the pulse test considering the real benefit in life savings between the two pulses. GRSG endorsed that suggestion and agreed to resume discussion at the forthcoming session of GRSG on the basis of an official document.