104. The representative of the United States of America, on behalf of the Chair of the informal working group on Quiet Road Transport Vehicles (QRTV), reported on the progress made by the group. He informed AC.3 that the last informal meeting took place in Berlin in December 2012. He added that the group had started examining amongst others: (i) a proposal tabled by Japan, (ii) the United States notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on this subject, and (iii) the recommendation and approach undertaken by the EC. He announced that the next informal meeting was scheduled to be held in Brussels on 16-18 April 2013 and that the group intended to prepare the outline of the UN GTR as well as to examine possible interactions with the provisions of UN Regulations Nos. 41 and 51. The representative of EU emphasized that the QRTV was the most appropriate group to develop global legislation on this matter. AC.3 noted the complexity of this subject and the group’s tight time schedule. AC.3 endorsed the recommendation by GRB to maintain consistency between the provisions of the future advanced vehicle alert systems with those of existing noise regulations.

Deep dive explanation of the NPRM (T. Healey/NHTSA)

The US NPRM was presented by the US since no other info was added. The subsequent discussion incl. all comments will be available from the NHTSA website soon.