S: the Chair informed that the situation in S is currently a bit confusing. Some political changes at the head of the country make the situation currently idling. Industry still has high interest in making the regulations evolve towards 74t / 32m. For the moment: 60 tons and 25,25m

NL: Need to add provisions for NL (mail of 24 November)

E: The group was informed that Spain is developing rules for these kinds of vehicles. Agreed that Mr. Lafuente be approached on this.

FIN informed about the document MVC-03-03.

Some countries even have no rotation permitted, some mandate a locking system.

The group reviewed document MVC-03-03:

• Debate on the necessary limitation of the angle of the 5th wheel of a dolly
• Debate on the parking brake and the current text of UN R13. Semi-trailer must take over its total weight on a slope of 18%. All vehicles must be able to take over their full load on a 18% slope. In case of a combination, the slope is 12% performed by the motor vehicle alone.
• Stability system: the vehicle is not able to measure its COG (which is varying with load and type of goods), hence automatic adjustment is not possible. Some manufacturers provide manual adjustment within a certain limited margin.

Mr. Adam introduced the D field test document (AECS-03-05). The experts held discussions on the following topics:

• The rules do not specify which kind of retarder is mandatory. N informed that some tunnels in Norway have slopes of about 10%, i.e. some high performance retarders are necessary.
• Paragraph 3 indicates which kinds of combinations are allowed in D
• Test to last until 2016.
• Some schemes could be added to the table.
• Political discussions in Germany are ongoing: infrastructure, technical requirements.

USA: not of concern to the informal group as they are not signatory to the 58 Agreement.

AUS: The AUS representative (M. Geoffrey Pitt) is available for providing information on situation in Australia.