13. The secretary of the WLTP informal subgroup on the Development of the Harmonized driving Cycle (DHC) introduced GRPE-65-29, containing the report on the progress made since June 2012. He highlighted the successful finalization of the test cycle profile. Speaking about the cycle allocation, he reported that metrics were agreed, that a final decision on the actual allocation was not yet made, and that the latest developments included the submission of a proposal by Germany to avoid breaking points in the cycle phases applied to different classes of vehicles. Reporting on the threshold speed, he mentioned that India proposed to set a margin for capped cycle speed, but also that the EC and Korea expressed concerns about this. Written comments on the topic are now awaited by the DHC subgroup to find a suitable compromise. Having indicated that there were no major concerns on the gear shift prescription, he reported that other remaining open issues included the mode construction, and that this is being addressed with the establishment of a specific task force. Finally, he announced that a technical report for the UN GTR is being developed. A first draft is expected for the next GRPE session, in June 2013.

14. The expert from France stressed the need to make sure that the cycles are credible and capable to assure effective regulatory action on pollutant and CO2 emissions. This is especially relevant to assure the provision of reliable information to the customers in terms of labelling. The expert from Italy supported this observation. Given the importance of pollutant emissions in urban areas, he underlined that the high speed phase of the cycles should not be over-weighted. Concerns on the high-speed section of the cycles were also voiced by the expert from France, who announced that proposals addressing this and other outstanding issues are going be filed at the European level. Replying to comments on the possibility of contemplating a delayed delivery of results to guarantee a better quality, the expert from the EC stressed the firm need to respect both high quality standards and the 2014 deadline and confirmed that the cycle adoption shall be expected by March 2014. He added that the transposition of cycle to European legislation, currently under discussion, shall be expected by 2016-2017.

15. Underlining the need to avoid hampering the development of international regulatory action because of regional issues, the GRPE Chair recalled that the issues pointed out are mainly related with the transposition of the content of the forthcoming WLTP UN GTR into European legislation and suggested that they would be best addressed in the context of the European WLTP mirror group.

16. The Chair of the informal subgroup on the Development of the Test Procedure (DTP) reported on the work status of the subgroup (GRPE-65-35). He reported on a number of remaining open issues related to the second validation phase. While some can be solved on a technical basis by the subgroups, he informed that a few of them need to be addressed at the DTP level. This is the case for the open questions like the payload factor and the combined approach test mass/vehicle selection/inertia classes, the soak procedure and soak temperature, how to handle of multimode gearboxes for CO2 and fuel consumption measurement, the classification of electric vehicles, and the definition of the power/mass ratio. He informed GRPE that a proposal on the solution of these issues is awaited before the next (and crucial) DTP meeting, to be held in Tokyo. Speaking about the Validation Task Force (VTF), he reported on the existing proposals how to proceed until the next DTP meeting and recalled the need for weekly contacts amongst stakeholders involved. Notwithstanding the acknowledgement that resolving all open issues in due time is a big challenge, the DTP Chair confirmed that the road map will be followed as planned.

17. Reporting on the development of the WLTP UN GTR, the drafting manager recalled that a first draft was uploaded on the CIRCA web site and gave an update on the drafting work and links with technical inputs. As requested by the GRPE Chair, he agreed to upload on the UNECE website (WLTP area) the most recent consolidated draft. He also agreed to upload the final draft text (as an informal document) of the UN GTR two weeks before the next GRPE session.

18. The technical secretary of WLTP introduced GRPE-65-30, containing a revised WLTP roadmap. He confirmed the aim for the approval by GRPE of the draft WLTP UN GTR in the special GRPE session to be held in November 2013, recalling that this implies that the document submission take place before 21 August 2013, with a last review meeting scheduled for July 2013.

19. GRPE agreed with the updated roadmap and underlined the importance of meeting the deadline for the submission of the UN GTR. The Working Party endorsed the progress report of DHC and recommended to solve regional issues in the framework of regional groups dealing with WLTP. On DTP, GRPE underlined the need to move from technical work into drafting efforts and called for strengthened cooperation between all stakeholders. The WLTP subgroups (DHC and DTP) should meet jointly at the next GRPE session. Most of the meeting should focus on DTP activities.