93. The representative of CONCAWE presented WP.29-167-27 to express the view of the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) and CONCAWE on the proposal to amend R.E.3 on market fuel quality (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2015/111). She stated that these organizations disagreed with the proposal since it included fuel properties not related to the proper functioning or durability of vehicles or after-treatment systems. She questioned whether R.E.3 was the right place for this purpose. She referred to WP.29-167-26 submitted by the African Refiners Association (ARA) which also supporting this position. She requested WP.29 to withdraw ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2015/111 from the agenda and to continue the work at GRPE to reach consensus for a proposal acceptable to all stakeholders.

94. The Chair of GRPE clarified that GRPE had discussed and considered the concerns of CONCAWE and IPIECA at the last June 2015 session. He mentioned that the Contracting Parties to the 1958 Agreement endorsed the proposal and it had been then submitted to the November 2015 session of WP.29 for further consideration. He doubted that further technical discussion would lead to a consensus. The representatives of the Netherlands, Sweden and EU agreed with the Chair of GRPE and supported the vote on the proposal.

95. The representative of CONCAWE reiterated the position of CONCAWE and IPIECA and strongly disagreed with the need to push the proposal forward. She expressed the fear of stakeholders that including this proposal in the framework of the 1958 Agreement would eventually lead to its introduction into the framework of the 1998 Agreement. The Chair of GRPE responded that given the position of Contracting Parties to the 1998 Agreement, he did not expect proposals to amend Special Resolution No. 1 (S.R.1) under the 1998 Agreement.

96. WP.29 adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2015/111 without objections or abstentions as an amendment to R.E.3.

60. The expert from OICA introduced ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2015/9 proposing amendments to the recommendations on market fuel quality in R.E.3. She presented
GRPE-71-04-Rev.1 clarifying that these recommendations would not impose any obligation to the Contracting Parties to the 1958 Agreement.

61. On behalf of IPIECA and CONCAWE, the expert from CONCAWE presented GRPE-71-16 with some remarks on the proposed amendments to the recommendations on market fuel quality. She expressed the opinion that these draft amendments were unnecessary since current recommendations were already sufficient to provide information on those fuel properties that had been implicated in irreversible changes in some types of vehicle emission control technologies. She underlined that R.E.3 was not suitable for this purpose. She referred to other forums devoted to fuels issues, such as the United Nations Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicle, as a more appropriate forum. She volunteered to discuss bilaterally with the industry some specific issues of the draft amendments.

62. The Contracting Parties to the 1958 Agreement endorsed ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2015/9 as amended by Annex VI of this report and requested the secretariat to submit it to WP.29 for further consideration at its November 2015 session.

46. GRPE agreed to consider ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2015/9 at its June 2015 session.