20. The experts from France and Germany, in their capacity of Co-chairs of the Informal Working Group (IWG) on a Quiet Road Transport Vehicles (QRTV) Regulation under 1958 Agreement, presented a draft QRTV Regulation (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRB/2015/9 and GRB-62-22).

22. GRB recalled that AVAS provisions had been recently adopted in the European Union and were scheduled to be announced in the United States of America in November 2015. Therefore, GRB stressed the urgent need for a QRTV Regulation and decided to adopt ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRB/2015/9, subject to minor editorial corrections. The secretariat was requested to submit it to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration and vote at their March 2016 sessions. At the same time, GRB was of the view that the concerns raised by WBU should be studied further, also bearing in mind recent technologies that improve road safety. To address these issues, GRB agreed that the mandates of both IWG QRTV for a Regulation and IWG QRTV for a GTR should be extended and requested the Chair to seek the WP.29 consent.

24. The experts from France and Germany, co-chairing IWG QRTV for a UN Regulation, briefed GRB on the progress in preparing a draft UN Regulation on QRTV under the 1958 Agreement and on its key aspects (GRB-61-02, GRB-61-10). GRB noted that a draft Regulation would be officially submitted to the next session of GRB in September 2015, as foreseen by the IWG mandate. The Chair invited GRB experts to provide IWG with their comments on a draft QRTV regulation as soon as possible and/or to take part in the work of IWG.

25. GRB confirmed that, for the time being, a new QRTV Regulation would cover electric and hybrid electric vehicles of categories M and N only. GRB agreed that stationary noise and the pause-switch function would be optional in stage 1. GRB also agreed that a maximum AVAS sound level should be introduced into a QRTV Regulation, with a view to protecting environment. The expert of WBU concurred with this view.