Certain UN Regulations contain provisions to allow for local divergence from the uniform requirements they present. The draft Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement refers categorically to these “special provisions”. Since such provisions work against the principles of harmonization and mutual recognition of approvals, OICA proposes to clarify that the 1958 Agreement recognizes such provisions as existed prior to Revision 3 without institutionalizing the recourse to such deviations as a regular part of the UN regulatory process.
49. The representative of Japan gave an overview of the discussions of the IWG on IWVTA. He referred to ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2015/40 and recalled the discussion of WP.29 at its previous session on the voting majority threshold. He introduced WP.29-165-04 superseding ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2015/41 aimed at amending Article 3 on special provisions. Noting that some critical comments had been received, he added that the IWG would resume discussions on this issue and report back to the June 2015 session of WP.29.
50. The representative of EU informed WP.29 that the EU Member States continue consultation on voting majority threshold and announced to provide more detailed information on a common position in the next sessions of WP.29. He raised concerns about the late submission of the amendments to Article 3 on special provisions and stressed the importance of freezing the text for the adoption process of the third Revision of the 1958 Agreement.
51. The World Forum agreed to defer discussion on this subject to its forthcoming session in June 2015. The secretariat was, thus, requested to circulate WP.29-165-04 with an official symbol.
53. The representative of OICA introduced WP.29-164-23 proposing to clarify in Article 3 of draft Revision 3, the special provisions within the UN Regulations with respect to the principles of the mutual recognition. The representative of Australia supported the proposal. WP.29 noted some comments and agreed to resume consideration of this matter at its next session, awaiting the feedback of IWVTA. WP.29 noted a concern expressed by the European Commission services on the late availability of the document and agreed to resume consideration pending the discussion of the document.
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.
| WP.29-164-23 | |
| WP.29-165-04 |