39. Upon the request of WP.29 at its previous session, the secretariat presented the guidelines on amendments to UN Regulations (WP.29-163-10) with several proposals on the administrative proceedings of the secretariat under the current version and the future Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement. WP.29 welcomed the proposal and referred the document to IWVTA and its subgroups for detailed consideration at their next meetings. WP.29 invited all interested delegates to transmit their comments to the secretariat and agreed to resume consideration on this subject at its next session on the basis of a revised document, taking into account the comments received.

40. Concluding the discussion, WP.29 requested the secretariat to participate in all forthcoming meetings of IWVTA.

45. The representative of Japan, Vice-Chair of the IWG on IWVTA, reported on the work progress made during the meetings held in Moscow prior to the WP.29 session (WP.29-163-19). He underlined the need to distribute a questionnaire to be sent to all countries/REIO (regional economic integrated organizations) participating in WP.29 on the difficulty with the proposed UN Regulations included in UN R0 and on the procedure for spare parts (WP.29-163-20 and WP.29-163-21). He proposed the insertion of a new column in the status document of the Agreement to list minimum acceptable versions of UN Regulations by Contracting Parties which accept the IWVTA of limited recognition. He sought the consent of WP.29 to use English as the only language for the application of type approvals and the accompanying documentation.

46. The World Forum welcomed the work done by IWVTA and endorsed the proposed procedures above.

48. The representative of the Russian Federation supported the initiative and proposed an amendment to the voting procedure by increasing the current threshold of two-thirds to a minimum of three-quarters majority as this would strengthen the rule making procedures of Contracting Parties. She voiced legal objections to the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations on the proposed proxy voting. WP.29 noted that, according to OLA, the proxy voting procedure was legally acceptable in the context of the United Nations (WP.29-163-24).

49. The representative of Japan announced that the draft Revision 3 was satisfactory for his country. He expressed his preference for a four-fifths majority and stated that this view was shared by a number of Asian Contracting Parties as well as by some potential Contracting Parties to the Agreement. He announced the preparation of a concrete proposal on raising the voting majority threshold, for consideration at the November 2014 session. The representative of EU supported draft Revision 3 and recommended Contracting Parties to also initiate their procedures for legal and political assessment. The representative of Australia indicated his country’s support for a four-fifths majority and that Australia would be a co-sponsor of Japan’s proposal. He also indicated Australia’s support for proxy voting, citing the tyranny of distance as a reason some delegations had difficulty in attending WP.29.

47. WP.29 noted the revised text of draft Revision 3 to the 1958 Agreement (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2014/53) reflecting the discussion of the March 2014 session. The World Forum requested the secretariat to reintroduce the provisions of the equal authenticity of English, French and Russian languages which existed in the first unamended text of the Agreement. WP.29 decided to freeze the draft revision and requested the Contracting Parties to clarify their political and legal views on this draft revision. WP.29 agreed to resume consideration of the revision of the Agreement at its November 2014 session, awaiting the appropriate political and legal guidance.

51. WP.29 recalled the frozen text of draft Revision 3 to the 1958 Agreement (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2014/53) and the additional provisions on the equal authenticity of English, French and Russian languages (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2014/82).

52. The representative of the Netherlands proposed a clarification to Article 12 to avoid different interpretations of the provisions on the obligations of Contracting Party to accept type approvals in the case they intend to cease the application of a Regulation. WP.29 endorsed the proposal. The representative of the Russian Federation reiterated the position of his Government expressed in WP.29-164-09 to object to the provisions on the delegation of voting rights. WP.29 agreed to remove Article 9 from the appendix of draft Revision 3. -The secretariat proposed to amend the definition of “a version of a UN Regulation” in WP.29-164-10 tabled under agenda item 4.2.2 and to replace the word “any” by “all” in the last sentence. Following the discussion, WP.29 preferred to delete the word “any”. The amendments agreed upon by WP.29 are reproduced in Annex III to WP.29-164 session report.

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.

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.