101. The representative of Germany introduced the work progress of the HFCV subgroup on safety (SGS). He informed AC.3 that the next meeting of the informal group SGS was scheduled to be held in Paris in the last week of June 2011. He announced that the submission of the final proposal was expected at the December 2011 session of GRSP.

102. Concerning the subgroup on environmental issues (SGE) he introduced WP.29-154-14 referring to the technical report adopted by GRPE at its June 2011 session and endorsed by GRB at its February 2011 session. He stated that a conclusion of this report recommended waiving the development of a stand-alone gtr for environmental related provisions for HFCV. He concluded that it was preferable to amend case-by-case existing UN Regulations or GTRs to accommodate vehicle categories or to consider HFCV directly during the developing process of new UN Regulations. AC.3 requested the secretariat to distribute WP.29-154-14 with an official symbol for consideration as a summary report at its November 2011 session.

38. Following the discussion at its previous session, GRPE considered the technical report ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2011/13 summarizing discussions and recommendations on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles (HFCV) with regard to provisions related to the environmental aspects. GRPE noted that its regulatory activities should focus on harmonizing the:

(a) test procedure for measuring the fuel consumption;
(b) test procedure and calculation method for measuring pollutants and CO2 emissions;
(c) definition of a reference fuel for test purposes.

39. GRPE endorsed the recommendation of the HFCV-Subgroup Environment to waive the development of a GTR on environmental related provisions and to develop, case by case, amendments to existing UN Regulations or UN GTRs. GRPE adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2011/13 and welcomed the Chair’s proposal to inform WP.29 on the basis of an executive summary only, including a reference to the more detailed technical report (see WP.29-154-14).

40. The Chair of the HFCV-Subgroup Safety (HFCV-SGS) reported on the work progress made by the subgroup. He expected that the GTR on HFCV could be agreed on by the Working Party on Passive Safety (GRSP) in 2011 and established in the Global Registry by mid-2012.