54. On behalf of Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the Russian Federation, the representative of Japan introduced WP.29-164-14 justifying the need to raise the voting majority threshold from the two-third to a four-fifths majority. The representative of EU presented a declaration (WP.29-164-30) by the European Commission Services on behalf of the EU member States and announced the intention to establish a coordinated position by March 2015.

55. The representative of India stated that his country was thankful to Japan for representing its views in IWVTA on the revision of 1958 Agreement. India was already a Contracting Party to 1998 Agreement. He noted that some of the suggestions were under consideration with respect to the 1958 Agreement. Ideally, India would prefer a consensus vote. Additionally, some suggestions have not reached consensus such as proxy voting, choice for accepting or not accepting higher version of UN Regulation, mechanism of validation of test agencies, dispute resolution mechanism, flexibility to apply a UN Regulation to a sub-set of vehicle categories, Contracting Party’s right to declare which versions it would accept, etc. He further stated that India appreciated that several countries had shown interest in developing the Indian market. This had improved the indigenous manufacturing industry in India, but India was carefully analysing the advantages that the 1958 Agreement would bring. He added that apart from being a large consumer market, India was also a significant producer of automobiles. India had established testing facilities in the country and was planning other advanced testing centres in near future. India also aspired to participate in other markets in future. India would like to actively participate in all WP.29 sessions and remained committed to better safety, emission and energy solutions, thus accepting regulations which were relevant for the country. India would, therefore, convey its decision on the 1958 Agreement after a detailed study of the final draft document before the March 2015 session of WP.29.

56. The World Forum recognized that the Contracting Parties would need more time to review the above proposals and agreed to resume consideration of this subject at its next session in March 2015. The representatives of Germany and the United Kingdom noted the need for a finalized text prior to submitting to their national authorities for approval and so the World Forum agreed that adoption of the revised agreement would be delayed accordingly. The secretariat was also requested to circulate WP.29-164-23 as a separate official document.