138. The representative from the United States of America reported that the IWG is aiming to submit a draft gtr as an informal document to GRSP at the December 2016 session (as mandated). He informed AC.3 that the IWG had been making good progress and was currently in the drafting/editing stage. However, he clarified there were still some challenging technical issues to resolve: (i) water exposure; (ii) thermal propagation, and (iii) provisions for heavy vehicles and buses. He concluded that the IWG expected to resolve all these technical issues at the next meeting (28 November – 2 December 2016) which will be hosted by China.

139. The representative of the EU mentioned that there is high urgency for finding a compromise during the last IWG meeting scheduled for the end of November in Shanghai, as the IWG Chair will have only one week to finalise the draft GTR text and to submit it to the GRSP in Geneva. Also, the EC would like to propose to launch Phase 2 already in 2017, with a view to continuing the work on thermal propagation and some other technical aspects without any interruption.