8. The Chair of GRPE reported that WP.29 considered, in its November 2013 session, a proposal to prolong the mandate of the WLTP informal working group until the end of 2015 (WP.29-161-14, corresponding to GRPE-67-06). This will be submitted to WP.29 as an official document for formal adoption in the March 2014 session. The expert from the EC, co-sponsoring this proposal with Japan, explained that it contains provisions defining the activities of phase 1b. He explained that the work of phase 1b relates to technical elements that were originally included in phase 1 but not addressed in the WLTP UN GTR proposal that was just adopted by GRPE, as well as other issues that may emerge from the continued activities related with the development of the test procedure. This will lead to the delivery of a first amendment of the WLTP UN GTR by the end of the mandate extension. The further development of the WLTP UN GTR concerning other issues that were originally foreseen beyond phase 1, such as On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) and low-temperature testing, will be the subject of phase 2, following the completion of phase 1b.

11. The WLTP Technical Secretary illustrated a proposal, also outlined in GRPE-67-06 and WP.29-161-14, on how to structure the subgroups under the WLTP informal working group. The experts from EC and Japan stated that a proposal indicating the names of the Chairs and Secretaries of the WLTP informal working group will be finalized for the January 2014 session of GRPE. The expert from OICA invited contracting parties to consider the possibility to identify a role for a representative of OICA in the structure of the group. The Chair of GRPE invited the two co-sponsors (Japan and the EC) to consider this request.