The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework through which the delegates to the World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) and other interested stakeholders can examine the experience with the 1998 Global Agreement and agree on ideas and processes for improvement in its implementation.

Table on the status of the proposals adopted at the November 2014 WP.29 session. These proposals, with one exception, became binding on 15 June 2015 following the six-month statutory waiting period.

Updated draft set of guidelines prepared by the WP.29 secretariat concerning the submission and adoption of modifications to UN Regulations, especially taking into consideration the pending Revision 3 to the 1958 Agreement which envisions, among other things, the acceptance to multiple “versions” of each regulation. This document covers: amendments resulting from draft Revision 3; publication of new series of amendments; long transitional provisions; versions of UN Regulations; use of cross-references; amendment commencement dates; consolidation of amendments to once per year; and use of “compilations” of modifications.

On 7 October 2015, the UNECE will hold its annual flagship ITS workshop in conjunction with the 22nd ITS World Congress in Bordeaux. The subject of the conference will be “ITS for Sustainable Mobility and the Mitigation of Climate
Change”.

Proposal to clarify that type approval under the International Whole Vehicle Type Approval System does not invalidate the obligation to meet additional regional or national requirements that may apply.

Proposal for a “joint task force” involving all stakeholders to consider the impact of automated/autonomous driving on the regulation of vehicles, traffic, and road infrastructure in order to develop coordinated and mutually acceptable responses towards improving overall road safety.

Information on WP.29 plans to introduce an automated system that would generate consolidated versions of UN Regulations and GTR, including all amendments and corrections, at the time each enters info force. This system may also allow for the generation of earlier versions of each regulation according to the past date selected.

Template for following the vote to include the proposed national regulations in the compendium of regulations for consideration as part of any related future GTR development work.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and/or regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for the development of Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 5 concerns the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108: “Lamps, Reflective devices and Associated Equipment”.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and/or regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for the development of Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 9 concerns the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) No. 213: “Child Restraint System” and No. 225: “Child Restraint Anchorage Systems”.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and/or regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 7 concerns the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 139: “New Pneumatic Radial Tires for Light Vehicles”.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and/or regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for the development of Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 6 concern the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 135: “Passenger Car Braking Systems”.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and/or regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for the development of Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 3 from the United States concerns the “Control of Emissions of Air Pollution from Non-road Diesel Engines and Fuel”.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and/or regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 2 from the United States concerns “Tier 2 Motor Vehicle Emissions Standards and Gasoline Sulfur Control Requirements”.

The Compendium of Candidates maintains a list of national and regional regulations proposed by Contracting Parties as possible bases for the development of Global Technical Regulations. Listing No. 1 from the United States concerns highway diesel fuel sulfur control and heavy-duty engines.

Proposal to limit the scope of UN R135 to M1 vehicles under 3.5 t maximum vehicle mass and to certain N1 vehicles based on geometric measurements. The proposal would exclude the small number of M1 vehicles weighing in excess of 3.5t that are based on N2, N3, M2, or M3 platforms. [Because the transitional provisions of the 01 series of amendments to UN R135 stipulate an effective date of 1 September 2016, this supplement to the 01 series will remain pending until after that date. Although adopted, the supplement cannot become enter into force prior to the effective date of the regulation it modifies.]

Proposal to prepare an amendment to UN Global Technical Regulation (GTR) No. 16 on tyres in order to introduce provisions concerning wet grip performance, rolling resistance, and qualification of tyres for use under severe snow conditions in accordance with the same provisions introduced recently into UN Regulation No. 117.

Proposed text for the new UN Regulation on the safety of electric motorcycles and related vehicles.

Proposal to allow vehicles to be run at idle during the test procedures and to change the minimum sound level requirement for vehicles of category M and N and motorcycles of a power greater than 7 kW from 93 dB to 87 dB.

Proposal to update the reference to the latest version of the ISO 10844 and to introduce transitional provisions for the shift of the test track requirements from ISO 10844: 1994 to ISO 10844: 2014.

Proposal to introduce a calculated engine speed (in addition to measured engine speed) for MT vehicles and for continuously variable transmission (CVT)/automatic transmission (AT) with locked gear mechanism into UN Regulation No. 41 for the tests in Annex 3 and Annex 7 (Additional sound emission provisions – ASEP)

This proposal further refines and clarifies the 03 series of amendments to UN R51 from Informal Working Group on UN Regulations Nos. 51 and 59. The 03 series was proposed in document GRB/2014/5 which was amended and then adopted by the Working Party on Noise during its 60th session. The proposal includes special provisional limits for Chinese micro-vehicles which are being reviewed by Japan.

Further refinements to the 02 series of amendments prepared by the Informal Working Group on UN Regulations Nos. 51 and 59. This submission proposes to clarify the amended text of document WP.29/2015/4 which was adopted during the March 2015 WP.29 session.

Proposal for a new time measurement accuracy for instrumentation involved in the rolling resistance method (Annex 6 of the UN Regulation) and to restore transitional provisions incorrectly deleted by Supplement 6 to the 02 series of amendments. The proposal also updates the test-track references to the recently published ISO 10844:2014.

Proposal to permit the “LT” marking as a prefix or suffix to align the requirements with the current practice for C2 tyres with metric size designation. The proposed text for a prefix is in line with the latest draft of the gtr on tyres. The proposed text for a suffix is necessary for tyres designed to Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association (JATMA) standards. The proposal would add new tyres for light commercial vehicles (high flotation tyres) in Annex 5 of UN Regulation No. 54.

Proposal to transpose requirements for new snow tyres (under UN R117) into UN R109 in order of avoid the exclusion of retreaded tyres from such applications/markets.

Draft proposal for the regulation to establish an international whole vehicle type approval. This proposal includes tentative text in brackets that is still awaiting final agreement among the Contracting Parties to the 1958 Agreement.

Proposal to update the reference to the latest version of ISO 10844 and to introduce transitional provisions for the shift of the test track requirements from ISO 10844: 1994 to ISO 10844: 2014.

Proposal to adapt certain requirements to the current state of technology and to transpose the latest decisions of the European Union (EU) regarding on-board diagnostics (OBD) threshold limits.

Proposal to amend the scope and clarify the transitional provisions to avoid misinterpretations for the installation of side-facing seats in category M3 vehicles. The proposal exempts vehicles exceeding 10 tonnes from the prohibition on side-facing seat provided the seat meet conditions specified in the 03 series of amendments to the Regulation.

Proposal to delete Appendix 3 (examination of the mobile impact barrier) to Annex 5 of UN R95. Appendix 3 was rendered redundant by the 02 series of amendments to the regulation (which introduced the EEVC mobile deformable barrier).

Editorial improvements to the text and introduction of provisions allowing for the separation of connectors (including the vehicle inlet) without the use of tools under prescribed conditions specified under paragraph 5.1.1. This paragraph describes the general requirements for the protection of all high voltage parts, including the obligation that such protection against live parts cannot be opened without the use of tools. If connectors can be opened without use of tools or if they do not satisfy the IPXXD/IPXXB protection limits, the provisions of 5.1.1.3 have to be met.

Editorial improvements to the text and introduction of provisions allowing for the separation of connectors (including the vehicle inlet) without the use of tools under prescribed conditions.

Proposal to include “MFP” in the labeling requirement for hydrogen containers. MFP refers to the maximum allowable container pressure under normal use.

Proposal to limit the scope of UN R135 to M1 vehicles under 3.5 t maximum vehicle mass and to certain N1 vehicles based on geometric measurements. The proposal would exclude the small number of M1 vehicles weighing in excess of 3.5t that are based on N2, N3, M2, or M3 platforms.

Proposal to update the on-board diagnostics (OBD) requirements of UN R83 in line with technical progress and to update the reference fuels in the 06 series of amendments in line with changes introduced in the 07 series of amendments to UN R83.

Proposal to update the on-board diagnostics (OBD) requirements, to delete the definition of “vehicles designed to fulfil specific social needs” in line with the Euro 6 stages of European Union Regulation (EC) No. 715/2007 and implementation Regulation (EC) No. 692/2008, and to clarify the wording of transitional provisions and align them with the General Guidelines for UN Regulatory Procedures and Transitional Provisions in UN Regulations (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1044/Rev.1). In addition, the proposed wording would allow Contracting Parties not to accept UN type-approvals if the requirements specified in the 07 series of amendments are not met.

The purpose of this proposal is to include the necessary transitional provisions to Supplement 4 to the 01 series of amendments to Regulation No. 101, in order to ensure consistency between the reference fuels prescribed in Regulation No. 83 (Emissions of M1 and N1 vehicles) and those prescribed in this Regulation.

Proposal to introduce provisions for ISOFIX in convertible cars, to exempt vehicles with one seating position per row from the ISOFIX provisions of UN R14 and to correct an editorial error in Supplement 4 to the 07 series of the regulation, as adopted by the Working Party on Passive Safety (GRSP) at its 54th session. This proposal supersedes the earlier proposal submitted to WP.29 (document WP.29/2014/34) which was returned by WP.29 to GRSP for further consideration.

The 03 series of amendment introduced a new Test C into UN Regulation No. 29. This proposal adds specifications for the test rig in the case where a pendulum impactor is used (as is already prescribed for Tests A and B). To improve the repeatability of the test, the submission further proposes to place the cab on a horizontal surface and to fix the pendulum with a required angle of 20° of impact against the cab to be tested. This proposal also adds language to require that the vehicle cab remain attached to the vehicle frame by at least three mounting points following the pendulum test.

Proposal to define the moment of inertia in the luggage-impact test as “0.3 ± 0.05 kgm2 (around all 3 principal axis of inertia of the luggage blocks)”. UN R17 presently lacks such a definition, resulting in variations in trajectory and behavior of the luggage cubes before and after impact. This proposal would also correct a reference to UN R25 to refer to the 04 series of amendments rather than to the 03 series of amendments.