GRSP-60-04
Proposal for the [08] Series of amendments to Regulation No. 14

Proposal to transfer all ISOFIX requirements from UN R14 into a new UN Regulation. Within the context of the international whole vehicle type approval program, the removal of these CRS anchorage provisions would align UN R14 with its Australian Design Rule counterpart and enable Australia to apply the revised UN R14 narrowed down to adult seat-belt anchorages only.

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Excerpts from session reports
GRSP | Session 61 | 8-12 May 2017

13. The expert from OICA introduced ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/8 as the official proposal to remove ISOFIX anchorages from the Regulation and to incorporate them into the new Regulation that was dedicated to these anchorages only (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/7, see para. 45). GRSP adopted the proposal, as amended below, as the most viable solution to solve the incompatibility of the requirements of the Regulation with the existing designs of Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in Australia and including UN Regulation No. 14 into Annex 4 of the future UN Regulation No. 0 on the International Whole Vehicle Type Approval (IWVTA). The secretariat was requested to submit the proposal as draft 08 series of amendments to UN Regulation No. 14, for consideration and vote at the November 2017 sessions of WP.29 and AC.1.

Paragraph 3.2.1., amend to read:
“3.2.1. Drawings of the general vehicle structure on an appropriate scale, showing the positions of the belt anchorages, of the effective belt anchorages (where appropriate) and detailed drawings of the belt anchorages;”

GRSP | Session 60 | 13-16 Dec 2016

14. The expert from OICA introduced two proposals: (a) GRSP-60-04 to remove ISOFIX anchorages from the Regulation and (b) GRSP-60-05 to incorporate them into a new one dedicated to these anchorages only. He explained that, in his opinion, the two proposals constitute the most viable solution aimed at solving the incompatibility of the requirements of the Regulation with the existing designs of Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in Australia and including Regulation No. 14 into Annex 4 of the future Regulation No. 0 on the International Whole Vehicle Type Approval (IWVTA). The expert from Australia supported the solution proposed by the expert from OICA as well as the experts from Italy, Japan and Sweden. However, the experts from the Netherlands and EC argued that the improvement proposed by Australia and covering harmonization issues should not be disregarded. The experts from France and the United Kingdom supported the splitting of Regulation No. 14 and urged that some improvements on ISOFIX provisions were needed once that the new Regulation was established.

15. GRSP agreed to resume discussion on this subject at its May 2017 session, on the basis of revised proposals tabled by OICA including the replacement of dynamic with static references in Regulation No. 14 and in a number of other Regulations. In the meantime, it was agreed to keep GRSP-58-13 on the next GRSP agenda for future development of ISOFIX provisions.

GRSP | Session 59 | 9-13 May 2016

15. The expert from Australia recalled the purpose of GRSP-58-13 aimed at solving the incompatibility of the requirements of the UN Regulation with the existing designs of Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in Australia and North America, and including UN Regulation No. 14 into Annex 4 of the future UN Regulation No. 0 on the IWVTA. He added that he received the following main comments: (i) recommending the exclusion of any provision to cover non-ISOFIX anchorages and leave to be regulated at the national level and (ii) changing the excursion limits to the test applied load. The expert from OICA reiterated his preference for splitting the UN Regulation into two Regulations: safety-belt anchorages and child restraint anchorages (the latter would be excluded by Annex 4 of UN Regulation No. 0). He explained that this solution would cope with the lack of harmonized provisions on CRS anchorages worldwide and would avoid type approval issues in countries like Australia. The expert from United Kingdom expressed his preference in a long-term solution by keeping a unique Regulation. However, he added that if this would result in design and type approval issues to vehicle manufacturers, he would eventually be in favour of the solution proposed by the expert from OICA. The expert from France supported the opinion of the expert from United Kingdom. However, he raised a study reservation to review all the consequences implied by splitting the UN Regulation.

16. GRSP agreed to resume discussion on this subject at its December 2016 session, on the basis of a possible revised proposal and to keep GRSP-58-13 on the agenda of the next session of GRSP as an informal document.

GRSP | Session 58 | 8-11 Dec 2015

17. The expert from Australia introduced GRSP-58-13 that aims to: (i) solve the incompatibility of the requirements of the UN Regulation with the existing designs of Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in Australia, Canada and the United States of America and (ii) include Regulation No. 14 into Annex 4 of the future UN Regulation No. 0 of the IWVTA. He added that this proposal would avoid splitting UN Regulation No. 14 into two Regulations: safety-belt anchorages and child restraint anchorages (the latter would be excluded by Annex 4 of UN Regulation No. 0). He clarified that the proposal would instead propose changes to UN Regulation No. 14, making CRS anchorages suitable for both safety-belt anchored CRS and rigid ISOFIX type CRS in a larger number of countries. The Chair of GRSP introduced GRSP-58-24, which supports, in principle, the proposal and shows the benefits of harmonizing CRS standards. The expert from OICA requested time to examine the proposal in view of splitting the UN Regulation, which he considered to be the most pragmatic approach.

18. GRSP agreed to resume consideration on this subject at its May 2016 session and requested experts to provide comments on the proposal to the expert from Australia by the end of March 2016, pending other comments from the IWVTA IWG. Finally, it was agreed to keep GRSP-58-13 in the agenda of the next session of GRSP as an informal document and as a possible basis for development of proposals on harmonization in the framework of the 1998 Agreement.