World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations | Session 168 | 8-11 Mar 2016
Geneva
Agenda Item 3.5.3.
Working Party on Noise (GRB) (Sixty-third session, 16-18 February 2016)

30. The GRB Chair reported on the results of GRB during its sixty-third session (for details, see the report of the session ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRB/61).

31. The GRB chair further informed WP.29 that GRB agreed to revise the Terms of Reference of the IWG of the QRTV Regulation to address the concerns raised by the World Blind Union, namely sound pressure levels, the Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) pause function and sound emissions when stationary.

32. The GRB chair also indicated that, following a request by WP.29, GRB preliminarily agreed to replace the acronym RESS (“Replacement Exhaust Silencing System”) in Regulation No. 92 with a new term “Non-Original Replacement Exhaust Silencing System” (NORESS).

33. The representative of WBU welcomed the preparation of the draft QRTV Regulation (agenda item 4.13.1) and the adjustment of the Terms of Reference of the IWG of the QRTV Regulation to tackle the concerns of WBU (WP.29-168-13). He also thanked the expert from Japan for his proposal to prohibit the AVAS pause switch that had been made at the sixty-third session of GRB. In this context, the representative of Japan expressed his support to the adoption of the draft QRTV Regulation upon understanding that, in the future, it could be amended prohibiting the pause switch. He invited experts from other countries to cooperate on this issue. The representative of the United States of America informed the World Forum that the national Rule on AVAS would be published in his country in the coming months and that the Rule would provide for AVAS sound at idle and would ban the pause switch. The representative of EU pointed out that the EU Member States would be ready to vote for the draft QRTV Regulation and thanked Japan for their proposal to address the pause switch issue at a later stage.

Documentation
GRB/61 Report of the GRB on its 63rd session
WP.29-168-13 World Blind Union statement on the proposed UN Regulation on Quiet Road Transport Vehicles (WBU)
WP.29/2016/26 Proposal for a new Regulation concerning the approval of quiet road transport vehicles