1. The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) held its 189th session from 7 to 9 March 2023, chaired by Mr. A. Erario (Italy). The following countries were represented, following Rule 1 of the Rules of Procedure of WP.29 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/690/Rev.1): Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America and Zimbabwe. Representatives of the European Union participated. The following international organization was represented: International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The following non-governmental organizations were also represented:, Association for Emissions Control by Catalyst (AECC), Consumers International (CI), European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA/MEMA/JAPIA) , Fédération internationale des véhicules anciens (FIVA), International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA), Fédération International de l’Automobile (FIA), International Automotive Lighting and Light Signalling Expert Group (GTB), International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (IMMA), International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), European Tyre and Rim Technical Association (ETRTO) and SAE International. Other non-governmental organizations were represented following Rule 1(d): American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), and World Bicycle Industry Association (WBIA).

2. The Chair of WP.29, Mr. A. Erario (Italy) welcomed the delegates to the 189th session of WP.29 and opened the meeting with the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and of the sixty-fifth anniversary of the 1958 Agreement. He invited the Executive Secretary of UNECE, Ms. Olga Algayerova, the Special Envoy for Road Safety, Mr. Jean Todt, the Director of the Sustainable Transport Division, Mr. Yuwei Li, as well as the participating countries of the first session of WP.29, other delegations, and industry for their remarks (see Annex VI of the session report for more details). He announced that the 25th Anniversary of the 1998 Agreement will be celebrated at the June 2023 session.

3. The recent elected Vice-Chair of WP.29, Mr. Naono (Japan) made the following brief inauguration speech: “At first, I would like to thank all the members for your trust in me and Japan. I am honoured to support Mr. Erario, our chairman from this session. Not necessary to mention, but WP.29 has definitely an important role in future traffic safety, environmental protection and automobile industry. I would like to keep three points in my mind as Vice-Chair. First one is to make WP.29 further world-wide organization. I am the first Vice-Chair from an Asian country. It means WP.29 is becoming a world-wide organization in real meaning. WP.29 can be a more world-wide organization by considering situations in various countries including Asia, Africa, South America and other developing countries. Second one is to achieve our goal of safer traffic and carbon neutrality. Thanks to recent technology, such as autonomous driving technology and batteries, the automobile gets more room for improving to be safer and more eco-friendly. WP.29 can use such technology to achieve our goals together with the automobile industry. Third one is to take care of vulnerable road user. Even now, a lot of vulnerable road users are facing some dangerous situations in daily traffic. Traffic should be equivalent for every road user, such as elderly people and children. I will keep these three points in my mind and am willing to support Mr. Erario and all the stakeholders in WP29.”

4. WP.29 adopted the annotated provisional agenda, added new agenda item 8.6. “Any other business”, for covering information by Japan on the ESV Conference 2023 and a statement from South Africa. (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1170, and 1170/Corr.1, WP.29-189-04 and the running order of the 189th session (WP.29-189-03)).

5. The list of informal documents is reproduced in Annex I to the session report.

6. The 141st session of WP.29/AC.2 (6 March 2023) was chaired by Mr. A. Erario (Italy), Chair of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, WP.29, and was attended, in accordance to Rule 29 of the terms of reference and rules of procedure of WP.29 (TRANS/WP.29/690/Rev.2) by the Chairs of GRBP (France), GRE (Finland), GRPE (Netherlands), GRSG (Italy), GRSP (United States of America), GRVA (Germany), and the Vice-Chairs of GRE (Netherlands), GRPE (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), GRSG (represented by Canada delegate), GRSP (Republic of Korea), GRVA (China and Japan), the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Executive Committee (AC.3) of the 1998 Agreement (Japan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America), the Vice-Chair of WP.29 (Japan) and by the representatives of the European Union.

7. AC.2 recommended the election of AC.3 Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons by acclamation.

8. AC.2 reviewed the updated calendar for 2023, the draft calendar for 2024. AC.2 welcomed the list of priorities for 2024 prepared by the secretariat and invited GRs to provide inputs related to their respective activities/priorities.

9. AC.2 recalled discussions on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and called on WP.29 delegates to provide feedback before the 190th session of WP.29. AC.2 also recalled the established process related to Copy-Right issues and reminded WP.29 and its subsidiary bodies to continue following them.

10. AC.2 reviewed the draft Programme of Work (PoW) for 2023 and recommend its adoption, as amended, by WP.29.

11. AC.2 was informed of the outcome of the special session of the Informal Working Group (IWG) on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) in January 2023 on the potential role of WP.29 regarding vehicular communication and discussed the potential next steps proposed by the Co-Chairs of the group, i.e. the establishment of a task force under the IWG on ITS.

12. AC.2 was informed on the outcome of a combined workshop of the Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety, WP.1, Informal Group of Experts on Automated Driving (IGEAD) and the WP.29/GRVA Informal Working Group on Functional Requirements for Automated Vehicles (FRAV). AC.2 discussed the collaboration between WP.29 and WP.1. It supported that communications continues at the operational level while WP.29 and WP.1 are exploring the needs of the Working Parties.

13. AC.2 renewed the approval for the European Caravan Federation, the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association and the European Association for Electromobility. AC.2 considered the application of European Noise Barrier Federation and IRF Global. It agreed to resume consideration of these applications at its next session and authorized European Noise Barrier Federation and IRF Global to participate at GRBP and GRVA respectively in 2023 so that they present their activities.

14. AC.2 noted the pending consideration of the application of a university as an NGO with ECOSOC status.

15. AC.2 recommended AC.4 not to convene.

16. The Secretary of WP.29 introduced the list of Working Parties, Informal Working Groups and Chairs (WP.29-189-01/Rev.1), the calendar of meetings of the World Forum for 2023 (WP.29-189-02). He highlighted that due to the cancellation of a meeting of a Group of Experts serviced by the Sustainable Transport Division, a few days became available to WP.29, which have been allocated to GRPE. He further advised that all meetings scheduled for 2023 would be in person.

17. The representative of Australia asked that IWG chairs consider, where possible, to hold IWG meetings either side of the relevant.

18. The Secretary of WP.29 presented WP.29-189-15, the revised Programme of Work (PoW) that was based on agreed priorities following discussions at GRs, AC.2 and previous sessions of WP.29.

19. The Representative of the European Union urged the Contracting parties, the industry and NGOs to accelerate the work on vehicle automation and automated driving systems. There is an urgency to start translating the conceptual discussion in FRAV and VMAD into concrete regulatory requirements applicable to type approval by addressing the specificities of the different automation levels, such as the applicability of VMAD methodology to level 4. The representative from the UK recognised the challenge of regulating automated driving systems but emphasized the importance of this work for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the need to move to regulatory requirements.

20. WP.29 adopted the Programme of Work, which would be issued under symbol ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/1/Rev.1.

21. The Chair of GRVA recalled his presentation at the November 2022 session of the inventory of best Automated Driving Systems (ADS) storage practices titled “Review of the national / regional activities and a proposed way forward for DSSAD” (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/42). WP.29 adopted the document.

22. The Chair of GRVA recalled the purpose of ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/43, which included an updated Table 1 of the Framework Document on Automated Vehicles (FDAV). He announced the next iteration of that document would include the tasks and deliverables of the IWG on Cyber Security and Over-the-Air issues, to be expected in one of the next WP.29 sessions. WP.29 adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/43.

23. WP.29 reviewed WP.29-189-07, “New Assessment/Test Method for Automated Driving (NATM) Guidelines for Validating Automated Driving System (ADS) – amendments to ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2022/58” prepared by the GRVA IWG on Validation Methods for Automated Driving (VMAD) and requested the secretariat to distribute the document with an official symbol at the next session of WP.29.

24. The Chair of GRVA announced that WP.29 would receive a document from the GRVA IWG on Functional Requirements for Automated Vehicles (FRAV) for consideration at its June 2023 session as well as a combined document stemming from the FRAV and VMAD activities, as a pre-regulatory package for consideration one year later.

25. The GRVA Secretary presented WP.29-189-18, a note by the secretariat based on the working paper ITS-05-02 prepared as a background note for the fifth session of the IWG on ITS, a special session organized upon request by WP.29. He reported that IWG received other presentations and liaison statements from standard developing organizations, and that the discussions were fruitful. He invited WP.29 to discuss further steps.

26. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Co-Chair of the IWG on ITS, explained that the Co-Chairs of the group proposed that a task force be established under the IWG on ITS to further analyse the potential role of WP.29 in vehicular communications. He explained that the group would not be a substitute to GRVA as a drafting body for technical provisions in that field but that more exploration was needed and more of these focused sessions would support that workstream. The experts from the Netherlands, ITU, OICA and SAE International shared supporting views.

27. WP.29 agreed to establish a Task Force under the IWG on ITS and to transmit
WP.29-189-18/Rev.1 to the task force.

28. The representative of ITU presented WP.29-189-08 recalling the offer of ITU to host a database serving as electronic repository with traffic rules.

29. The representative of Canada recalled the organization in Canada regarding vehicle regulations and traffic rules with responsibilities at various levels. He understood the value of a central repository especially in the context of international traffic. He did not see it as the role of the governments to provide already publicly available information in an international database and to commit maintaining this database.

30. The representative of Germany confirmed that his country would hesitate to commit resources, since information was already publicly available.

31. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland explained that his country already published their highway code and is exploring the possibility of making it machine readable. He was cautious about countries being held liable, but he had no objection to the proposal and suggested that it should be presented to WP.1.

32. The representative of Australia supported the views expressed and recognised that such a repository could be useful to industry. He cautioned that regulation would refer to the content of a database and warned of the potential difficulties encountered in case the database content would not be accurate or up to date.

33. WP. 29 agreed that, while this a subject of common interest, WP.1 is the appropriate venue for a discussion on such database. WP29 invited ITU to make this presentation at WP.1.

34. The secretariat briefed WP.29 on the outcomes of the eighty-fifth session of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC).

35. He highlighted the following ITC decisions with relevance to WP.29:

36. The Chair highlighted the overall positive support by ITC for WP.29 activities and opened discussion on ITC decision No. 55. The Chair of GRVA proposed that the IWG on ITS address the ITC request on communication protocols between Electric Vehicles (EVs) and recharging infrastructure, in a similar way as done for the request to address V2V communication.

37. The Chair of the IWG on ITS supported such approach to have the IWG on ITS first consider the issue and to propose WP.29 a way forward, including potential distribution of activities among the relevant GRs. The Chair of GRPE supported this idea.

38. WP.29 agreed that the IWG on ITS would address the ITC request related to the communication protocols between EVs and their recharging infrastructure.

39. The World Forum approved the report of the Chair of GRBP at its seventy-sixth session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRBP/74).

40. The World Forum approved the report of the Chair of GRVA on its fourteenth session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRVA/14).

41. The World Forum approved the report of the Chair of GRSG on its 124th session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSG/103).

42. The World Forum approved the report of the Chair of GRE on its 87th session (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRE/87).

43. The representative of the United States of America on behalf of the Chair of GRSP informed WP.29 about the results achieved by his group during its seventy-second session (for details see the session report ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/72), which took place in hybrid on December 5-9, 2022.

44. GRSP agreed to transform the ad-hoc group on Equitable Protection of Occupants into an Informal Working Group, on the same subject, and adopted the Terms of Reference of the IWG. Therefore, GRSP Chair agreed to seek endorsement of WP.29 and AC.3 at their March 2023 sessions to the establishment of the IWG. The World Forum endorsed the decision of GRSP pending adoption of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the IWG (through the adoption of the report of the seventy-second session of GRSP), and parallel endorsement of the Executive Committee of the 1998 Agreement (AC.3) (see para. 129).

45. GRSP recommended the proposal for Amendment 1 to UN GTR No. 13 on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles at the June 2023 session of AC.3. The representative of Japan welcomed the decision of GRSP, looking forward the consensus of vote of AC.3 for the establishment of the Amendment into the Global Registry.

46. The Chair of GRSP asked WP.29 to postpone to the June session of the World Forum the outcome of results of its Task Force on Autonomous Vehicle Regulatory Screening. The World Forum endorsed the request of GRSP Chair.

47. The World Forum noted that Mr. M. Koubek (United States of America) as Chair and Mr. H.G. Kim (Republic of Korea) as Vice-Chair for the sessions of GRSP scheduled in the year 2023.

48. The Chair of GRPE (Netherlands) reported to WP.29 on the results achieved by GRPE during its eighty-seventh session (for more details see the report of the session ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/87).

49. GRPE endorsed proposals for a new UN Regulation on Global Real Driving Emissions (Global RDE), a new 08 Series of Amendments to UN Regulation No. 83 (Emissions of M1 and N1 vehicles), new supplements to UN Regulations Nos. 24 (Visible pollutants, measurement of power of C.I. engines (Diesel smoke)), 49 (Emissions of compression ignition and positive ignition (LPG and CNG) engines), 83 (Emissions of M1 and N1 vehicles), 85 (Measurement of the net power and the 30 min. power) and 101 (CO2 emission/fuel consumption).

50. GRPE adopted a proposal for a new UN GTR on Laboratory Measurement of Brake Emissions for Light-Duty Vehicles together with its final status report.

51. GRPE approved the terms of reference for the IWG on A-LCA and agreed to revise terms of references and rules of procedure for the IWG on EPPR.

52. GRPE agreed to create a task force Fitness of GRPE Regulations and GTRs for ADS, with a kick off meeting expected to take place before the next session of GRPE.

53. GRPE requested the secretary to organize an additional session of GRPE dedicated to the topic of LCA, preferably in April 2023. The secretariat confirmed a special GRPE session will take place 12-13 April 2023.

54. The representative of Australia requested further clarifications about the emission limits in RDE and how they are linked with Euro 6e. He wondered if an RDE procedure would be available in the future for vehicles complying with lower emission limits, considering the available fuel quality in some regions.

55. The Chair of GRPE confirmed UN Regulation on RDE is linked with the latest emission limits in the UN Regulations Nos. 83 and 154 for mutual recognition. He highlighted the importance of advanced fuel quality requirement to be able to meet the latest emission limits.

56. The representative of Japan acknowledged the contribution of the Chair of GRPE. He emphasized the activities of the IWG on A-LCA as relevant for Japan, valued the adoption of the terms of reference and the additional GRPE session in April.

57. The Chair of GRPE confirmed the importance of this activity and of the dedicated GRPE session in April on the topic. He acknowledged the contributions of Japan and Korea for initiating the activity, and other countries for their growing engagement.

58. The GRVA Chair reported on the results achieved by GRVA during its fifteenth session (see ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRVA/15 for further details).

59. WP.29 endorsed the establishment of the IWG on Acceleration Control for Pedal Error (ACPE). The representative of Japan highlighted the importance of this work and expressed gratitude for this endorsement.

60. WP.29 agreed that GRVA would collaborate with the Working Party on General Safety Provisions (GRSG) in order to define vehicle (sub-) categories related to ADS.

61. WP.29 noted that GRVA would organize further workshops on the implementation of cyber security provisions developed by the IWG on CS/OTA.

62. WP.29 agreed that GRVA would host a workshop on Electro-Mechanical Braking systems, a new braking system with potential benefits for electric and automated vehicles and stressed its importance.

63. WP.29 assigned UN Regulations Nos. 102 and 147 to GRSG.

64. WP.29 noted the work done and the coordination provided by the GRVA task force on the fitness of UN Regulations and UN GTRs with regards to ADS and expected a report at its June 2023 session.

65. WP.29 transmitted GRVA-15-15/Rev.2 (Identification of the status of a vehicle with ADS) to the IWG on Intelligent Transport Systems.

66. WP.29 invited the GRVA Chair to inform the Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety (WP.1), on behalf of WP.29, at its next session in March 2023 about the discussion at WP.29 regarding the collaboration between the two working parties.

67. WP.29 agreed that a basis document to organize collaboration with WP.1 would be prepared for the WP.29 June 2023 session by the GRVA Chair, the WP.29 Chair, the secretariat and interested parties.

68. The GRBP Chair reported on the results achieved by GRBP at its seventy-seventh session (for details, see the report of the session ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRBP/75).

69. The GRBP chair requested that the mandates of the Informal Working Groups on Additional Sound Emission Provisions (IWG ASEP) and of the Informal Working Group on Wet Grip Performance of Tyres in Worn State (IWG WGWT) be extended until December 2024 and February 2026, respectively. WP.29 gave its consent.

70. The GRBP chair pointed out that, on 1 July 2023, a one-year monitoring period would start for collecting and analysing test data on the Real Driving Additional Sound Emission Provisions (RD ASEP) in UN Regulation No. 51 and that GRBP agreed on the organization of this process and adopted amendment proposals clarifying the collection and transmission of RD-ASEP data. He further mentioned that the above amendments, if approved in June 2023, would enter into force around January 2024, while the data collection should start on 1 July 2023. Therefore, GRBP counted on cooperation of Contracting Parties and urged Type Approval Authorities and Technical Services to collect and transmit the RD ASEP data as of 1 July 2023.

71. The GRBP Chair recalled that, at the WP.29 session in November 2022, two solutions had been suggested to prohibit the use of Unique Identifier (UI) in UN Regulations:

1. Elaborate a standard clause to be inserted in UN Regulations; or
2. Adopt an amendment to Schedule 5 of the 1958 Agreement.

72. Finally, the GRBP chair reported that GRBP launched a Special Interest Group on Automated Vehicles Regulation Screening (SIG AVRS) which had screened 21 UN Regulations under the responsibility of GRBP and identified 13 UN Regulations for further consideration. He pointed out that GRBP was waiting for the WP.29 and GRVA priorities in this respect as well as for new definitions of vehicle categories (or subcategories) dedicated to ADS.