85. The secretariat informed WP.29 about the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 – 2020, which would be globally launched on 11 May 2011. The Decade was officially proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in March 2010. It provides a framework to increase actions to save lives on the world’s roads. The secretariat explained that under Pillar 3 of the action plan “Safer vehicles”, activities of WP.29 were included, particularly under Activity 1 and Activity 7. This latter activity was considered relevant for the 1997 Agreement.

86. The suggestions by the secretariat were to: (a) identify those areas of Pillar 3 activities under the responsibility of WP.29, (b) mandate the subsidiary bodies of WP.29 to address their tasks in those areas where outcomes are expected, and © invite the secretariat to participate in the meetings of the Evaluation Working Group that will be set up within this framework. WP.29 decided to revise this approach at the June 2011 session. The representative of the EU informed WP.29 about a similar initiative “Towards a European road safety area” for the same period of time 2011–2020.

67. The secretariat suggested that, after the adoption of UN Rule No. 2, two options could be considered for the future development of the Agreement: (a) Update UN Rule Nos. 1 and 2 to the same level of the corresponding EU Directives, or (b) to keep the UN Rules at a lower level that could allow developing an adequate level of Periodical Technical Inspections (PTI) to those countries without a PTI system. It was reminded that, at the March 2011 session, WP.29 representatives were invited to define their strategic position on this matter (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1089, para 83).

68. The representative of the Russian Federation recalled the importance of harmonized requirements for the construction of vehicles and, as a consequence, also of technical provisions for PTI. Both set of requirements contribute to improved road safety. He expressed his preference for a harmonized approach and insisted on the urgency to adopt UN Rule No. 2.

87. The World Forum noted that no progress was made by the Working Party on Road Safety (WP.1) at its September 2011 session on the link between the 1968 Vienna Convention and the 1997 Agreement. The representative of the Russian Federation underlined the importance of UN Rule No. 2 for road traffic safety and stated the wish of his country to enforce at it the earliest possible (time/date). In the meantime, he invited WP.1 to revise the Consolidated Resolution on Road Safety to take into account the roadworthiness provisions of UN Rule No. 2. Finally, he suggested contacting CITA representatives to ask their collaboration for a possible revision of the UN Rules.