97. The Chair recalled the WP.29 decision, at the previous session, to elect a second Vice-Chair at this meeting for the term of office until November 2026. WP.29 noted that two candidates were nominated before the session (WP.29-198-11): Mr. S. Anikeev (Russian Federation) and Ms. J. Doherty (United States of America). WP.29 was informed that 49 countries and the European Union, being WP.29 participants, were present. Thus, the required quorum for taking decisions was attained.

98. The European Commission pointed out that the EU member States, while supporting the establishment of a second Vice-Chair position, required more time for internal consultations and recommended postponing the election of the second Vice-Chair. Nigeria then nominated Mr. P. Yanna (Nigeria) for the second Vice-Chair position. Germany and Sweden, thereafter backed the position of the European Commission, while noting the last-minute nomination of a new candidate. On this ground, they proposed to postpone the election procedure.

99. The United States disagreed with the European Commission’s request to postpone the elections and requested further detail on why European Union member states needed more time. The United States questioned whether more time would result in consensus among the European Union member States given the discussion of establishing the position has been ongoing, in her view, for more than eighteen months and the provisional agenda had been circulated on 16 December 2025 providing ample time for collaboration.

100. The representative of Canada pressed the European Commission representative to provide more information on the reasons to delay the vote as, in his view, the European Commission did not provide a justification. The European Commission repeated that this was still part of internal proceedings of the European Union. France, Germany, Netherlands (Kingdom of the), and Sweden took the floor in support of the European Commission.

101. The representative of Japan called for good collaboration and geographical extension of the WP.29 bureau. Canada and the United States of America asked the Representative of the European Commission for more information to support the delay given the extensive AC.2 and WP.29 discussions on equal geographical representation that had led to the WP.29 decision to introduce the position of a second Vice-Chair. Canada, the United States, Japan and the Russian Federation also noted that the European Commission had not opposed inclusion of the election when the agenda was adopted and expressed significant disappointment with the European Communities lack of cooperation to continue as planned with the election of a second Vice-Chair at this session.

102. In the absence of consensus, France, mentioning that he had the support of several countries for that, called for a vote on the following question: “Are you in favour of the postponing of the election of a second Vice-Chair?”.

103. The United States of America and the Russian Federation requested clarification from the French delegation on the timeline of postponing.

104. The French delegation, with the support of Netherlands (Kingdom of the), Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, amended the proposed motion to the following question: “Are you in favour of the postponing of the election of a second Vice-Chair, to hold together with the election of officers to November or December 2026?”.

105. The United States asked the European Commission and the French delegation for more information on what would be gained from postponing the elections. The United States pointed out that neither North America or Africa had ever held the WP.29 Chair or Vice Chair position. The United States expressed concern that the European Commission was requesting to postpone the elections until such time as it could identify a European Union candidate to fill the second Vice-Chair position. The United States cited its disappointment that at all levels of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, member states and the Secretariat described the organization as a global standard setting body, but that even in a so-called “world forum”, European countries and organizations are attempting to block meaningful participation by other regions.

106. The European Commission responded that the position of second Vice-Chair was opened to all contracting parties.

107. The United States of America requested the vote be administered by roll call.

108. The representative of China announced that they could not take part in the vote.

109. The results of the roll call were 29 in favour, 7 votes against and 12 abstentions. One country present, China, did not vote. The voting was as follows: In favour: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands (Kingdom of the), Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland Against: Belarus, Canada, Japan, Israel, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United States of America Abstaining: Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

110. Based on the above results, the Chair concluded that the election of a second Vice-Chair was postponed to the last session of WP.29 in 2026.