12. The 136th session of WP.29/AC.2 (21 June 2021) was chaired by Mr. A. Erario (Italy), Chair of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29), 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.2) by the Chairs of GRBP (France), GRE (Finland), GRPE (Netherlands), GRSG (Italy), GRSP (United States of America), GRVA (Germany), the Vice-Chairs of GRBP (Russian Federation), GRE (Netherlands), GRPE (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), GRSG (represented by Canada delegate), GRSP (Republic of Korea), GRVA (China and Japan), the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Executive Committee (AC.3) of the 1998 Agreement (United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Japan), the Vice-Chair of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) (Russian Federation), the Chair of the Administrative Committee of the 1997 Agreement (Russian Federation) and by the representatives of the European Union.

13. Prior to its scheduled meeting on 21 June 2021, AC.2 held an ad-hoc virtual informal meeting on 7 June related to the special procedures during COVID-19 period in order to enable business continuity for WP.29 and its subsidiary bodies.

14. On 14 June 2021, AC.2 held an additional ad-hoc virtual informal meeting, concerning Nomination/Voting of Chair/Vice-Chairs within the WP29 family of expert groups. AC.2 decided to continue discussions on the matter at a meeting to be scheduled to take place during the latter part 2021.

15. AC.2 took note of the special procedures during COVID-19 period, which had been adopted under silence procedure on 11 June 2021 and was informed about the results of the written voting procedures, which took place from 15 to 18 June 2021, for AC.1 and AC.3 items envisaged for voting in accordance with the agenda of the 184th session of the World Forum.

16. AC.2 was informed of matters related to the use of content protected by copy or intellectual property rights in documents prepared for and presented at WP.29 and GR sessions and the consequent liability exposure of secretariat staff members. AC.2 requested the secretariat to prepare a guidance document that would assist delegates on how to address this matter when preparing documents for sessions under the WP.29 umbrella, i.e. to avoid using copyrighted materials for which authorization had not been obtained. The secretariat announced that the document would be presented at the AC.2 session in November 2021, while in the meantime submitters of documents that contain potential copyrighted material would be asked to sign a waiver releasing the secretariat of liability to potential copyright claims.

17. AC.2 reviewed the proposed programme of work of the World Forum for 2021, noting comments provided by the European Commission concerning a streamlined timeline for the adoption of annual programmes of work.

18. AC.2 reviewed the progress made on the activities listed in the Framework document on autonomous/automated vehicles and requested the secretariat to issue an informal document for the session of the World Forum in this respect.

19. AC.2 took note of the revised calendar of sessions of the World Forum and subsidiary bodies for 2021 and the draft calendar of sessions for 2022.

20. AC.2 reviewed and adopted the revised annotated provisional agenda for the 184th session and reviewed the draft of the 185th session of the World Forum, scheduled to be held in Geneva from 23 to 25 November 2021.

21. AC.2 reviewed the request and approved participation of the European Caravan Federation at sessions of WP.29 and subsidiary bodies, under Rule 1(d) of the Terms of Reference of the World Forum, for a period of two years. AC.2 reviewed the request for participation of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets at sessions of WP.29 and subsidiary bodies (GRVA), and recommended that an invitation by the Chair of GRVA, according to Rule 1(e), would be sent to the organization for participating in the forthcoming session of the GRVA in September 2021. AC.2 will resume consideration of this request at its 137th session in November 2021.

22. AC.2 noted the issue of potential under representation of average female by the existing dummies raised during the last sessions of the Working Party on Passive Safety (GRSP). The Committee agreed on the approach of the Working Group to verify first the merit of this claim and then eventually consider the Terms of Reference of an informal Working Group on this subject and the possible involvement of other working parties.

23. AC.2 was briefed on the initiative to hold a side-event at the 2022 session of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) showcasing the work of the World Forum in the field of Intelligent Transport Systems. The Chair of the World Forum stated that the initiative was welcomed by the Bureau of the ITC at its May 2021 session, and that further presentations on the initiative would be made to the Bureau at its November 2021 session.

24. AC.2 recommended AC.4 not to convene.

25. Following the presentation of the AC.2 report, the representative of OICA acknowledged the need for exercising particular care concerning copyrights and intellectual property. However, he expressed concern about the exclusive liability for potential breach of copyrights and/or intellectual property rights that would be bestowed on the waiver signatory as a result of signing the template form in its current format, and proposed WP.29 to work on a simpler, administratively less cumbersome and more pragmatic process. Representatives from ETRTO and GTB supported OICA’s statement.

26. The Chair of WP.29 and AC.2 clarified that such waiver would not be needed in obvious cases such as e.g. proposals for transitional provisions amendments and that such waiver, possibly in a more simple format, would only be needed in cases of serious doubts.