110. The representative from Germany, Chair of the IWG on DETA, presented
(WP.29-187-27) the report (WP.29-187-26) to the World Forum related to the use of DETA and also updating WP.29 on the work of the IWG at its forty-fourth session, held on 9 June 2022. He laid out the current state of play, noting the number of approvals uploaded. He detailed activities of the IWG related to contracting and implementation of Unique Identifier (UI). He conveyed the question from the IWG to WP.29 whether UI provisions should be introduced in UN Regulations that do not specifically prohibit the use of UI, as per para. 3 of Schedule 5 to the Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement and offered the position of the group regarding opening the access to DETA to technical service performing sovereign tasks on behalf of contracting parties.

111. The representative of OICA proposed to postpone the signature of the contract for the development of the UI module as recent questions arose that would need to be clarified before developing the feature.

112. The representative of European Commission offered tentative views according to which all UN Regulations should include, in line with the provisions of the revision 3 of 1958 Agreement, UI related provisions for supporting uniform applications of the Regulations.

113. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland held the view that there could be confusion in the market place, in the absence of provisions supporting uniform implementation of UI.

114. The representative of France recalled that the 1958 Agreement allows the use of UI as an alternative to the approval mark provisions in UN Regulations, unless provision prohibit the use of UI, at the condition that the Approval is uploaded in DETA. He added that, nevertheless, the use of UI could have implications for the contracting parties that would require further guidance and lead-time.

115. The representative of CITA mentioned the potential benefits of UI if details were well considered. He suggested that further work would be performed before making use of UI. Upon invitation by the Chair, he presented WP.29-187-15, showing potential negative impacts of UI if not carefully developed.

116. The representative of OICA stated that there was no intention to hamper sovereign activities and that UI should not replace marking that needs to remain on the products. He added that possibly a horizontal document could be developed to detail the precise UI provisions (e.g. format, size, etc), to which all relevant UN Regulations could refer.

117. The representative of Finland, Chair of GRE recalled the 1958 Agreement provisions related to UI and explained the GRE considerations when introducing UI provisions in UN Regulations Nos. 148, 149 and 150. He recalled that CITA made a presentation at the IWG on SLR and that further discussions would take place in the near term to address concerns raised.

118. The representative of European Commission shared some of the concerns raised by CITA and recalled that:

• the absence of a specific reference to UI in UN Regulations could lead to confusion if the choice of the use of UI or of a traditional marking was left to economic operators;
• IWG on SLR should reflect the inclusion of additional markings to facilitate the periodic checks or roadside verifications;
• if no solution can be found before the UI software become operational, a temporary freeze of UI in the lighting regulations should be considered.

119. The representative of the Republic of South Africa recalled the importance of markings when verifications of vehicles, systems and parts was at stake. He urged WP.29 to make UI and its use user-friendly.

120. The representative of Sweden announced that he would perform an analysis of the situation in his country to evaluate the potential negative impact of DETA as presented by CITA.

121. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland mentioned the importance of approval marking, not only for periodic technical inspection and roadside inspections but also in other cases. He mentioned as an example the existing requirements at the point of sale and felt that a large number of national regulations could be impacted by UI and could require amendments.

122. WP.29 agreed that further work was needed within the IWGs on DETA and SLR. WP.29 recalled the use of markings beyond the context of vehicle approval, having importance at all stages of the vehicle lifetimes, from approval to registration and down to decommissioning. WP.29 noted the crucial importance of the access to information and also to consider modern technology such as XML formats as PDF files were no longer state of the art.

123. WP.29 could not provide a final answer to the question raised by the IWG on DETA related to UI but expressed support for further work for the sake of simplification, uniform implementation of UI.

124. WP.29 adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2022/62 (under agenda item 4.5.1).

125. The Secretary proposed to WP.29 to consider marrying the Document of Conformance (DOC) and UI for further benefits to citizens. He mentioned as an example the difficulties experiences by citizens in order to receive e.g. stickers as required in order to enter Low Emission Zones.

126. The Secretary confirmed that there was no new development regarding the budget for hosting DETA at UNECE. WP.29 thanked Germany for hosting DETA for the time being.