7. The Secretary of the Informal Working Group “Simplification of the Lighting and Light-Signalling UN Regulations” (IWG SLR) presented their progress report (GRE-80-30) and proposed revising its Terms of Reference (GRE-80-14). Following an in-depth discussion, GRE agreed that stage 2 of IWG SLR should take over the outcome of the Informal Working Group on Visibility, Glare and Levelling (IWG VGL), and so, adopted the revised Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure of IWG SLR, as laid down in Annex II. GRE mandated its Chair to seek the consent of WP.29, at its November 2018 session, to extend the mandate of IWG SLR until the end of 2022. At the same time, GRE agreed not to extend the mandate of IWG VGL beyond 2018.
8. GRE was informed that the full package of amendment proposals drafted by IWG SLR under stage 1 of SLR, including the three new simplified UN Regulations on Light-Signalling Devices (LSD), Road Illumination Devices (RID) and Retro-Reflective Devices (RRD), in August 2018 had been submitted to WP.29 and to the Administrative Committee of the 1958 Agreement (AC.1) for consideration at their November 2018 sessions. GRE noted that the SLR package, if adopted, would be scheduled to enter into force at the end of May – beginning of June 2019. Therefore, under the above assumption, the June 2019 sessions of WP.29 and AC.1 would provide for the very first opportunity to introduce amendments to the new LSD, RID and RRD UN Regulations.
9. GRE recalled that, at its previous session, it had provisionally adopted transitional provisions to “freeze” UN Regulations Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 19, 23, 27, 38, 50, 69, 70, 77, 87, 91, 98, 104, 112, 113, 119 and 123 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/11), with square brackets around the third transitional provision on the validity of existing type approvals, and had agreed to take a final decision at this session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/79, paras. 11 and 17). The Secretary of IWG SLR presented the revised transitional provisions (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/34) which propose the deletion of the third transitional provision for all concerned UN Regulations. The expert from OICA expressed concerns that this deletion might lead to different interpretation among type approval authorities and that some of them might question the validity of existing type approvals (GRE-80-21). GRE confirmed that the revised transitional provisions, as proposed in ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/34, do not affect the validity of type approvals already granted pursuant to the UN Regulations concerned.
10. Upon this understanding, GRE adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/34 and requested the secretariat to submit it to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their November 2018 sessions as corrigenda to the original SLR package. GRE also expressed a hope that, in spite of the late submission of these modifications, contracting parties would be in a position to take them into consideration and to vote for the complete updated SLR package in November 2018.
11. The Secretary of IWG SLR introduced the first proposals for amendments to the original versions of the LSD, RID and RRD UN Regulations (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/36, ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/37 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/38). GRE adopted these proposals and noted that some of these amendments were essentially corrections of errors in the original SLR package while others were improvements. GRE stressed the need to rectify the discovered errors, such as the correction of Table 9 in the RID UN Regulation (as proposed in ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/37) and the correction of Annex 7 of the RRD UN Regulation (as proposed in ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/38) and requested the secretariat to submit these corrections to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their November 2018 sessions as corrigenda to the original SLR package. The “improvement” amendments would be submitted to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their June 2019 sessions, as explained in para. 8 above.
12. The experts from IWG SLR and IMMA proposed to amend the inboard visibility angle for rear position lamps in pairs in the new LSD UN Regulation (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/33 and GRE-80-32). GRE adopted the proposal and requested the secretariat to submit it to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their June 2018 sessions as draft Supplement 1 to the original LSD UN Regulation. GRE also recalled that this modification should be submitted together with the corresponding proposal to amend UN Regulation No. 53 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/28), which had been agreed upon at the previous session, and requested the secretariat to submit it to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their June 2019 sessions as draft Supplement 4 to the 02 series and draft Supplement 22 to the 01 series of amendments to UN Regulation No. 53.
13. The expert from IMMA proposed a modification to the presentation on change index (GRE-79-12-Rev.1). GRE adopted the modification and requested the secretariat to publish the revised presentation as a reference document on the GRE website.
14. The expert of SAE presented collective amendments to UN Regulations Nos. 98, 112, 113 and 123 for the purposes of the recently updated Canadian Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) No. 108 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/32). GRE adopted the proposals and requested the secretariat to submit them to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their June 2019 sessions as draft Supplement 1 to the new 02 series of amendments of UN Regulation No. 98, draft Supplement 1 to the 02 series of amendments of UN Regulation No. 112, draft Supplement 1 to the 03 series of amendments of UN Regulation No. 113 and draft Supplement 1 to the 02 series of amendments of UN Regulation No. 123.
15. The expert from IMMA proposed amended definitions for UN Regulation No. 53 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/2018/35 and GRE-80-05). GRE adopted the proposals and requested the secretariat to submit them to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration at their June 2019 sessions as draft Supplement 4 to the 02 series of amendments to UN Regulation No. 53.