6. The 130th session of WP.29/AC.2 (24 June 2019) was chaired by Mr. B. Kisulenko (Russian Federation) and was attended, in accordance to Rule 29 of the terms of reference and rules of procedure of WP.29 (TRANS/WP.29/690/Rev.1) by the Chairs of the Working Party on Noise (GRBP) (France), the Working Party on Lighting and Light-Signalling (GRE) (Belgium), the Working Party on Pollution and Energy (GRPE) (Netherlands), the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA) (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the Working Party on General Safety Provisions (GRSG) (Italy), the Vice-Chair of the Working Party on Passive Safety (GRSP) (Republic of Korea), the Chair of the Executive Committee (AC.3) of the 1998 Agreement (USA), the Vice-Chair of WP.29 (Italy), and by the representatives of Canada, China, Germany, Japan and the European Union.

7. AC.2 reviewed the revised Programme of Work for WP.29 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2019/1/Rev.1) and welcomed the work on strategic planning by the Chairs of GRBP and GRPE. Chairs of other Working Parties were requested to deliver their group’s priorities of work. This work of the GRs will be the basis for a more strategically oriented Programme of Work for WP.29.

8. AC.2 discussed the draft Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Informal Working Groups (IWG) on Functional Requirements for Automated and Autonomous Vehicles (FRAV), on Validation Methods for Automated Driving (VMAD) and on Event Data Recorder and Data Storage System for Automated Driving (EDR/DSSAD) and requested the secretariat to issue revised versions for further elaboration by WP.29.

9. Following a presentation of the revised ToR for the IWG on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), AC.2 requested few amendments before the elaboration of the document by WP.29.

10. AC.2 approved the participation at the World Forum, under Rule 1(d) of the Rules of Procedure of WP.29, of the non-governmental organization Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) for the 2019-2020 biennium.

11. AC.2 reviewed and adopted the provisional agenda for the 178th session and reviewed the draft of the 179th session of the World Forum, scheduled to be held in Geneva from 12 to 15 November 2019 (see para. 14 below).

12. AC.2 recommended that AC.4 does not convene.

13. The WP.29 Secretary informed AC.2 about:

1. the promotion of Mr. R. Hubert, former GRSG Secretary to the position of Chief of the Transport of Dangerous Goods and Road Safety Management Section;
2. the current ECE budget freeze that does not allow vacant posts to be filled.

14. As reaction on the current budget issue, AC.2 recommended to shorten the November session of the World Forum including meetings of its committees, the Administrative Committee (AC.1) of the 1958 Agreement, AC.2, AC.3, and the Administrative Committee (AC.4) of the 1997 Agreement, to three days in total only:

• AC.2 would meet on Tuesday, 12 November 2019 at 9:00 a.m.;
• WP.29, for its 179th session, would start on Tuesday, 12 November 2019 at 2:30 p.m. and would conclude with the reading of the report on Thursday, 14 November at 5:30 p.m.;
• AC.1, AC.3 and AC.4 would take place during the WP.29 session.

15. AC.2 also recommended to further streamline proceedings of WP.29 sessions and to assess options for an additional increase in efficiency.

16. Following the oral presentation of the report of the 130th session of WP.29/AC.2 by the WP.29 secretary, the World Forum engaged in a discussion on the recommended action in response to the current ECE budget issue.

17. The representative of OICA highlighted the high importance of the work done at the World Forum for the global automotive industry. He recalled that, during the last three years, proceedings at WP.29 had been made more efficient by introducing the system of the so-called A-points, which resulted in gaining time for discussions on important matters. He stated that OICA would always be in favour of continuous improvements, however, he now feared that the proposed shortening could have a negative impact, especially if the necessary discussions could not take place.

18. The representative of Germany supported the measure to shorten the 179th session of the World Forum as reaction on the current financial situation. He invited the industry representatives to come up with alternative proposals.

19. The Chair of WP.29 advocated following the recommendation of AC.2 to shorten the 179th session of WP.29 to test new proceedings. He stated that, if this would not allow sufficient time for the necessary exchange of views and decisions on important matters, subsequent WP.29 sessions would follow the former well-proven format.

20. The Chair of WP.29, in general, expressed the concerns of the World Forum on the ECE budget situation and called on member States to verify their contributions to the United Nations.

21. In the context of the current cash flow crisis, the Chair of WP.29 called on the ECE management to fill the vacant post without delay in order to guarantee the servicing of meetings of WP.29 and its subsidiary Working Parties (GRs) as the outcome of WP.29 work was directly impacting national legislations of the European Union, Japan and Russian Federation (among others) that were applying UN Regulations by direct reference.