Mr. Draper introduced document SLR-08-01 providing a comprehensive overview of objectives, the challenges and the proposed work plan on the basis of the outcome of the 7th SLR session. He also pointed out that the work done so far by the SLR was not wasted because now it can be used for the development of the new Regulations.

The document was reviewed carefully by the participants and several comments and improvements have been made. The following is a list of the most significant conclusions that were agreed by the SLR:

• It was agreed to use the term “Road illumination” instead of “Forward lighting”.
• The proper functioning of the DETA database will be fundamental for the success of the simplification work. Without DETA properly working the whole simplification job will fail.
• All the pending proposals in the pipeline will be reviewed to decide if they can be passed to GRE with the aim of being adopted by WP.29 in March 2017. The SLR will base its simplification work on the existing UN Regulations as amended by WP.29 in March 2017, therefore those proposals not adopted by WP.29 will not be taken into account for the simplification, regardless of the time they have been waiting in the pipeline.
• The new UN Regulations will be drafted on the basis of the format indicated in document SLR-08-02 (to be refined)
• The present content of R-48 will not be amended, except that all definitions (installation and devices) will be moved into section 2 “Definitions”.

Some concerns were raised about the freezing of the Regulations, in particular with regards to the risk of blocking innovation. After a long debate it was clarified that:

• The prime objective of the SLR is to simplify the regulations so that technical innovation can be easily accommodated.
• “Frozen Regulation” means that it is no longer possible to use it for granting new approvals. However it can still be used for extension of existing approvals (e.g. Reg. 20). New Regulations will apply to new type approved devices and vehicles.
• All the existing Regulations intended for simplification will not be frozen in March 2017. They will be frozen, with appropriate Transitional Provisions, only when the new Regulations will be adopted by WP.29. The adoption of the new Regulation and the TPs to freeze the existing UN Regulations will take place at the same WP.29 session (presumably in March 2018). During this period, no more amendments to existing UN Regulations intended for simplification will be allowed and approvals for innovations may be granted using Article 6 and Schedule 7 of the 1958 Agreement (draft Rev. 3 – see WP.29/2015/40).
• R-48 will not be frozen, therefore the GRE-IWG VGL can continue its work and the text of this Regulation can still be amended to allow technical progress.
• Innovation will not be blocked but it will have to fulfil the requirements of the existing Regulations.
• Following the freezing of the existing Regulations and the entry into force of the new Regulations, the SLR will work on a longer term activity aimed at amending such new Regulations to make them technology neutral. In parallel R-48 will be rewritten with an emphasis upon performance based requirements so that innovation can be accommodated without the need for regular revisions.

A detailed planning was developed and agreed by the meeting. This is now available as document SLR-08-05.

-Structure for a new regulation to group a number of existing regulations (Rev. of SLR-07-07): This document was addressed in conjunction with the discussion on the previous item.