23. The Secretary of WP.29 introduced the list of Working Parties, Informal Working Groups and Chairs (WP.29-185-01), the calendar of meetings of the World Forum for 2022 (WP.29-185-02) and presented the revised Programme of Work (PoW) with a strategic introduction on the main priorities of the WP.29 work, which are related to the implementation of the ITC strategy 2030 and among others, to vehicle automation and environmental protection. (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2021/1/Rev.2).

24. The representatives of the United States of America and Japan expressed concern with the dates and timing of the November 2022 session of the World Forum and requested that these dates be re-adjusted to enable their full participation at that session. The representative of Japan also expressed concern with the time of WP.29 and GRs sessions in 2022 and requested that timing is decided taking into account world-wide time zones so that most participants attending remotely can attend at suitable hours without extra burden. The Chair of GRVA expressed concerns about the non-confirmed session of GRVA in May 2022. He recalled the importance for GRVA to hold a third session in the year prior to the June 2022 session of WP.29.

25. The secretariat introduced informal document WP.29-185-06, which will form the basis for the 2022 Programme of Work of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and its Subsidiary Bodies. WP.29 noted that the updated list of priorities for GRSP would be provided following the December 2021 session. WP.29 was informed on a scheduled ad-hoc session of AC.2 for final review before the adoption at the March 2022 session of WP.29.

26. The representative of the European Commission introduced informal document WP.29-185-17, proposing a list of priorities from the European Union covering safety and automated/connected vehicles as well as emissions.

27. WP.29 endorsed the revised programme of work as introduced in ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2021/1/Rev.2.