10. The 124th session of WP.29/AC.2, (19 June 2017) was chaired by Mr. A. Erario (Italy) and was attended, in accordance to Rule 29 of the terms of reference and rules of procedure of WP.29 (TRANS/WP.29/690 and Amends.1-2), by the Chairs of GRB (France), GRE (Belgium), GRPE (Netherlands), GRRF (United Kingdom), GRSP (United States of America) GRSG (Italy), the Chair of the Executive Committee (AC.3) of the 1998 Agreement (Japan), the Vice-Chair of WP.29 (Russian Federation), by the representatives of Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, United States of America and European Union (EU).

11. The WP.29/AC.2 reviewed and adopted the agenda of the 172nd session of the World Forum. WP.29/AC.2 also reviewed the draft agenda for the 173rd session of the World Forum, scheduled to be held in Geneva from 14 to 17 November 2017.

12. AC.2. discussed the possibility of new vehicle category determinants for automated and autonomous vehicles. AC.2 agreed to defer further discussions on the topic to the Informal Working Group (IWG) on Intelligent Transport Systems and Automated Driving (ITS AD) at its session to be held on 22 June 2017 (see para. 25 of this report).

13. The Chair of the IWG on International Whole Vehicle Type Approval (IWVTA) informed AC.2 about the latest amendments to Annex 4 of the draft UN Regulation No. 0, about other UN Regulations to be reviewed by the relevant GRs before they may be included in the annex, namely UN Regulations Nos. 14, 34, 116, 129 and the future UN Regulation on implementing the Worldwide Light-Duty Test Procedures (WLTP).

14. AC.2 reviewed the proposals for amendments of the “General Guidelines” documents and focused on the question whether this document would be still considered as a guideline or as a legal interpretation (see item 4.2.2.). In addition, the EC representative suggests the guideline documents to be reviewed by the GR Chairs, possibly by written procedure during the summer period, before adoption at the November 2017 session.

15. AC.2 explored ways of how to integrate IWVTA into the GR framework. One option was to propose the establishment of a seventh GR, but AC.2 thought, that this would require a more general reflection taking into account priorities of work. A first deliverable was expected by November 2017.

16. The secretariat informed AC.1 on the state of play of the financing for the Database for the Exchange of Type Approval documentation (DETA) following the negotiations in preparation for the sixty-seventh session of the Commission resulting in the only possible way forward via an extra-budgetary project as an interim solution (see item 4.5).

17. AC.2 agreed to discuss Article 15.3 of the Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement and highlighted its impact on the example of changes to the requirements for Technical Services and, therefore, the possible need for transitional arrangements (see item 4.4.).

18. In order to raise the transparency of the work of WP.29, AC.2 considered ways to ease access of participation to WP.29 for NGOs that have not obtained ECOSOC consultative status, on the basis of proposals to amend the WP.29 Rules of Procedure (RoP). The secretariat was requested to prepare a corresponding proposal for a future amendment of the WP.29 RoP for consideration by WP.29 at its 173rd session in November 2017.

19. AC.2 discussed the agenda for the autonomous vehicle policy conference to be held June 28 and 29 at the Palais des Nations. The European Commission expressed concern that the members of WP.29 were not consulted when WP.1 developed the conference. The EU noted that as the Working Party responsible for development of safety regulations for autonomous vehicles, WP.29 has great interest in discussions involving its members responsible for regulatory policies affecting autonomous vehicles. The secretariat was asked to consult with the leadership of the WP.1 committee to find ways to improve communications between the two committees to ensure that all interested parties are informed in advance and may participate in development of conferences covering joint areas of interest.

20. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland raised the security issue of so-called “vehicle as a weapon”. AC.2 agreed this would require reflection whether WP.29 could usefully address this issue.

21. AC.2 recommended AC.4 to convene.