63. The secretariat updated WP.29 about developments on the hosting of DETA by UNECE and the discussion of the UNECE Executive Committee (EXCOM) related to financing DETA (WP.29-173-04). The representative of the European Union gave, on behalf of the Chair of the IWG on DETA, a status report of the activities of the group at its thirtieth meeting. The secretariat presented WP.29-173-15 on behalf of the Chair of the IWG, explaining (i) what DETA is, (ii) the link between DETA and the activities of the WP.29, (iii) the expected benefits, (iv) the potential additional features of DETA, and (v) three scenarios to organize the migration of DETA to UNECE. He explained that scenario one corresponded to a stand-alone project as presented in WP.29-173-04, scenario two was based on scenario one but with important savings realized in segmenting the project and obtaining additional human resources through a Junior Professional Officer financed by one Contracting Party (potentially Germany). Scenario three was presented by the representative of Germany (WP.29-173-13) and proposed to temporarily host and finance DETA under the condition that UNECE takes over DETA under regular budget at the latest from 2022 onwards2 and that the industry covers the development costs of the Unique Identifier and the Declaration of Conformity. Scenario three would allow an implementation date of DETA by mid 2018.
63 bis. Germany also presented a proposal (WP.29-173-13) to rename DETA which will be considered at the next session of WP.29 in March 2018.
64. WP.29 preferred the scenario three and thanked Germany for its offer. The representative of OICA clarified that their possible commitment covered only a fair share of the development costs of the Unique Identifier and mentioned that other industries and governments would also benefit from this DETA development and therefore should also contribute. The representatives of IMMA and CLEPA stated on the question of sponsoring the development of the Unique Identifier as part of the DETA-project, that they were studying the question and could not make any commitment at this time. The representative of Germany hope but cannot assure that the offer can be maintained for the March 2018 session of WP.29. The Chair urged all Contracting Parties to the 1958 Agreement and all stakeholders to find a solution for the financing for DETA before the next session of WP.29 in March 2018.
65. In parallel, WP.29 requested the secretariat and the IWG on DETA to reflect on the proposal made by the representatives of Australia, Austria and South Africa to explore ways to extend DETA with a feature allowing to charge users on a subscription basis, per download and/or upload of Type Approval documentation, as an alternative way to finance the hosting of DETA at UNECE, on the condition that this would not delay the installation of DETA at UNECE.
2 Note by the secretariat: as UN Regular Budget is decided by Member States at the UN General Assembly, UNECE is not in the position to commit at this stage.