30. The expert from the Russian Federation presented GRBP-70-07 on the emissions of hazardous substances and particulate matters caused by wear of tyres and roadway, which contaminates urban atmosphere. GRBP took note of this information as well as of the position of the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturer’s Association (ETRMA) (GRBP-70-16). The expert from EC mentioned the ongoing European Union study on the subject. The Chair acknowledged the importance of this issue and recalled that it had been allocated to the Working Party on Pollution and Energy (GRPE) and its Informal Working Group on Particle Measurement Programme (IWG PMP).

31. The expert from Germany proposed amendments to UN Regulation No. 138 with the aim to introduce a maximum sound level for the acoustic vehicle alerting system (AVAS) at speeds greater than 20 km/h (GRBP-70-04). Following a brief discussion, the Chair invited the expert to submit a working document for consideration at the next session.

32. The expert of ISO reported on development of ISO 16254 and invited GRBP experts to participate in the evaluation process (GRBP-70-09).

33. The expert from France proposed an amendment to UN Regulation No. 28 which complemented paragraph 2 “Definition” with an “electronic” operation of the audible warning device (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRBP/2019/26). GRBP adopted the proposal and requested the secretariat to submit it to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration and vote at their March 2020 sessions as a draft Supplement 6 to the original series of amendments to UN Regulation No. 28.

34. The secretariat reported that the Inland Transport Committee (ITC), at its eighty-first session in 2019, had adopted the ITC Strategy until 2030, invited its subsidiary bodies to follow-up by aligning their work with the strategy and requested the secretariat to take the necessary actions to promote the implementation of the strategy (ECE/TRANS/288, paras. 15 (a), (c) and (g)). Furthermore, the Committee had expressed its concern for the limited progress globally in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal targets on road safety and those of the United Nation Decade of Action for Road Safety (ibid, para. 64) (GRBP-70-27).

35. GRBP noted that, in order to help countries, particularly new contracting parties, to further implement legal instruments in the area of road safety, the secretariat had prepared the draft ITC Recommendations for Enhancing National Road Safety Systems for comments by the Working Parties. GRBP stressed the importance of this document and invited GRBP experts to transmit their comments to the secretariat by 1 November 2019 at the latest.

36. GRBP recalled its discussion on how to implement the new provisions of Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement on “Unique Identifier” (UI) and agreed to resume it at the next session, in the light of ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2019/77 which had been submitted to the November 2019 session of WP.29 by the Informal Working Group on Database of the Exchange of Type Approval documentation (IWG DETA).

37. GRBP was informed that Mr. T. Stoffels, Netherlands, would no longer attend GRBP meetings, due to impending retirement. GRB thanked him for his valuable contributions and wished him success in the future.