63. The representatives of Estonia, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands and Romania noted the parallel development of amendments to the UN Rules annexed to the 1997 Agreement and the corresponding EU Directive. They requested to delay (WP.29-162-09) the submission of the proposed amendments to UN Rules Nos. 1 and 2 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/132 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2013/133) to the Administrative Committee of the 1997 Agreement (AC.4), making sure that their obligations would not conflict with the EU Directive. Theye stated that if the amendments to UN Rules Nos. 1 and 2 are adopted, they would not be harmonized with the current EU Directive. The Chair of GRRF recalled the discussion outcome at GRRF that the most pragmatic approach would be to consider aligning the amendments to the 1997 Agreement and the EU Directive as much as possible as these activities were progressing nearly in parallel.

64. The representative of the Russian Federation noted that WP.29 at its 156th session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1095, para 84) had confirmed the importance of Periodical Technical Inspection (PTI) of vehicles for road safety and had agreed to extend the scope of UN Rules Nos. 1 and 2 to cover vehicles of categories M1, N1 and O1 making the 1997 Agreement more useful for emerging economies and for those countries not having a PTI system. He added that, accordingly, WP.29 had agreed to defer to a later stage the alignment of the provisions of both UN Rules to the corresponding EU Directive. He expressed the wish that the submission of the proposal for amendments to UN Rules Nos. 1 and 2 should not be further delayed, given the safety and environmental implications of these amendments.

65. After examination with the Contracting Parties present, WP.29 saw no possibility to organize the vote on the amendments to the UN Rules and recommended not to hold the AC.4 session.