21. The Secretary of the informal group for a tyre GTR reported on the progress made. He presented the latest version of the text of a draft GTR (GRRF-74-38) amending ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRRF/2012/22. GRRF reviewed the document and agreed on the technical aspect of this proposal. GRRF noted that some decisions needed to be taken by WP.29 and AC.3. GRRF adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRRF/2012/22, as amended and reproduced in GRRF-74-38, keeping in square brackets the “Adhesion Performance on Wet Surfaces” provisions (paragraph 3.12.). GRRF requested the secretariat to submit the proposal as amended below to WP.29 and AC.3 for consideration at their June 2013 sessions and for vote at their November 2013 session. GRRF expected to review, during its September 2013 sessions any guidance received as necessary.

Paragraph 2.58., replace ASTM by ASTM International
Footnote 1, paragraph 3.14.1., amend to read:

¹ Contracting Parties who utilize load ranges higher than E for LT may apply national requirements.

22. The expert from France introduced GRRF-74-09 proposing a status report on developing the tyre GTR. He volunteered to prepare an updated report as a final report for phase 1 of the development of the tyre GTR to be presented to WP.29 and AC.3 at their sessions in June 2013.

23. GRRF noted the completion of the work on the phase 1 by the informal group and acknowledged the work done by its experts.

100. The representative of the United Kingdom, Chair of the IWG on the UN GTR on Tyres, informed AC.3 that five questions were still unresolved. He confirmed that two Contracting Parties were still in the process of reviewing the text of the draft UN GTR. Referring to the final report on the development of the UN GTR (WP.29-160-09), he stated that, in the case of disagreement at the September 2013 session of GRRF, an optional test procedure should be included in addition to the two optional modules.

101. The representative of EU stated that a really long list of controversial provisions had been solved by March 2013 and, due to the five remaining unresolved questions, the UN GTR could not be adopted during the current session. He urged the Contracting Parties to make an effort to solve the pending issues at the September 2013 session of GRRF, thus allowing for voting on the draft UN GTR at the November 2013 session of AC.3.

102. The secretariat was requested to distribute WP.29-160-09 with an official symbol for consideration at the November 2013 session of AC.3.

25. The expert from USA, referring to ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63, reported on the progress made on unresolved issues before its potential adoption. He informed GRRF about their testing schedule for the wet grip test validation. The expert from China referred to the Chinese Standard GB/T 4504-2009 for resolving remaining issues with the bead-unseating test. GRRF agreed that an additional meeting of the informal group on the Tyre GTR would be necessary, subject to the authorization at the November 2013 session of WP.29 to hold an additional meeting in January 2014. GRRF agreed that the informal group should refer to the existing terms of reference. GRRF preferred to postpone the vote by WP.29 and AC.1 on ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63.

92. The representative of the United Kingdom, Chair of the IWG on the Tyre GTR, informed AC.3 that the draft proposal ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63 was not recommended for vote at this session because GRRF at its September 2013 session had not resolved the pending issues. He expressed his disappointment that it had not been possible to resolve these detailed points but remained optimistic that the GRRF session in February 2014 would finalise the GTR. He therefore, proposed to extend the mandate of IWG until June 2014. The representative of the United States of America clarified that some necessary research in his country had not be concluded on time and therefore supported the proposal to extend the mandate. AC.3 gave its consent for the extension of the mandate.

[US government shutdown delayed research on the proposed wet grip test procedures necessary before the United States can commit to the new GTR. As a result, US position should only be ready in time for discussion and finalization of draft GTR within GRRF in February 2014. This time-line suggests a vote on the GTR at the June 2014 WP.29 session.]</

23. The expert from USA, referring to ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63, reported on the progress made on unresolved issues before its potential adoption. GRRF noted that testing results on the wet traction test procedure from the USA would need to be evaluated before a recommendation could be made to refer the GTR for adoption by WP.29/AC.3. The Chair of GRRF indicated that he would provide a status update to WP.29 at the upcoming March session and ask for additional time to consider the USA research results. A second issue concerning the bead unseat test for which the expert from China had planned to offer a proposal was resolved when it was announced that China would accept the existing procedure in the GTR.

Note by the secretariat: WP.29 agreed (in March 2014) to hold an extraordinary GRRF session during the Thursday afternoon session of WP.29 on 26 June 2014 dedicated to this agenda item.

84. The Chair of GRRF informed AC.3 that the draft proposal ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63 was not recommended for vote at this session. He noted that WP.29 has approved an extraordinary session of GRRF during the June 2014 session of WP.29 to address remaining issues (see para. 36 above). AC.3 welcomed this information and expected consideration and vote on this proposal at its November 2014 session.

101. The representative of the United Kingdom recalled that an additional session of GRRF would be held in the afternoon of Thursday, 26 June 2014, to conclude the pending issues of the draft UN GTR on Tyres (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63, ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/122) for an expected adoption at the November 2014 session.

The United States abstains due to the inability to quantify the benefits in terms of lives saved as required by US statutes caused by a current lack of resources to devote to the effort. All other Contracting Parties present vote in favor. The EU expresses its disappointment and stresses its belief that the effectiveness of the 1998 Agreement requires urgent attention.

The United States abstains due to the inability to quantify the benefits in terms of lives saved as required by US statutes caused by a current lack of resources to devote to the effort. All other Contracting Parties present vote in favor. The EU expresses its disappointment and stresses its belief that the effectiveness of the 1998 Agreement requires urgent attention.

33. On behalf of GRRF, [the GRRF chair] recommended the establishment of the draft global technical regulation (gtr) on tyres into the Global Registry, on the basis of ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63, as amended by ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2014/83 and WP.29‑164-04. He also recommended amending the final report on Phase I on the development of the gtr (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/122) as indicated in WP.29-164-04. He announced that France had indicated that it would not sponsor Phase II of the gtr.

105. Submitted for consideration and vote, the proposed draft UN GTR on tyres (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63, ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2014/83, WP.29-164-04) was established in the UN Global Registry on 13 November 2014 by consensus vote of the following Contracting Parties present and voting: Australia, Canada, China, European Union (voting for Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom), India, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa and Turkey.

106. The technical report (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/122, WP.29-164-04) and the adopted proposal for the development of the UN GTR (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/AC.3/15) would be appended to the established UN GTR.

107. The United States of America voted to abstain on the UN GTR on tyres. The representative of the United States of America thanked France as sponsor, the United Kingdom for the chairmanship, and the tyre industry for the time and energy involved in the effort. He stated that the UN GTR offers a set of safety requirements that, in its entirety, no single country or region currently has and that, when implemented would truly increase vehicle safety worldwide. He further indicated that the United States of America abstained as it is not in a position to implement the UN GTR within a year due to resource constraints (according to the rules of the 1998 Agreement).

108. The representative of EU expressed his gratitude to the parties for their hard work to finalize the draft GTR on tyres and welcomed the positive vote by the Contracting Parties. He regretted that there had been one abstention and pointed out that the need for efficiency of the 1998 Agreement was more than urgent. The representative of ETRTO echoed a similar statement.

25. The Chair of GRRF recalled the purpose of ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63 (Draft UN GTR on tyres), amended by ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRRF/2014/20 (adopted at the seventy-seventh session of GRRF), and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/122 (the corresponding technical report).

26. The expert from France presented GRRF-78-18 introducing minor updates to ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/63 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/122. He added that the timeline for further development of the gtr had to be updated, taking into account the delay to adopt phase I. GRRF adopted GRRF-78-18 as amended by GRRF-78-47 and as reproduced in Annex III to this report. GRRF requested the secretariat to submit the proposal to WP.29 and AC.3 for consideration at their November 2014 sessions.

27. GRRF reviewed the ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRRF/2014/20 containing the amendments defined at the seventy-seventh GRRF session. The Chair recalled that GRRF previously agreed that updates to the UN GTR on tyres would be proposed after its establishment in the global registry by AC.3 to keep it in line with the latest regulatory developments.

28. Finally, the expert from France advised GRRF that his country would not be able to sponsor phase 2 of the UN GTR on tyres once phase 1 was concluded.