2007/TPTWG29/LEG/VSHG/008

Report of the Vehicle Standard Harmonisation Group(VSHG) Meeting

Submitted by: Australia

29th APEC Transportation Working Group Meeting
Chinese Taipei
9-13 July 2007

29/TPTWG/LEG/Annex 6
Report of VSHG,Taipei, 07/07/10-111.
Adoption of Agenda (Participants)
Noted : Mr Robertson (Australia) would chair the meeting in the absence of Mr Kim (Korea)
who was unable to attend: the meeting was attended by delegates from Chinese Taipei, Korea, Japan, Indonesia,Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and IMMA
: the apologies from Canada and the USA2.
Summary of Outcome from the 28th VSHG Meeting (Chairman)
Noted : the report was on the APEC website, the main points of which were:• the practice in VSHG to provide a status report on the adoption of ECEregulations• a report of previous ECE meetings• the support work of JASIC for economies in the adoption of ECE Regulations• the presentation by Korea on the work of WP29
• the development of the core regulations for motorcycles
3.
Report of recent meeting of Transportation Ministers (Australia)
Noted : the implications of the APEC Ministerial Statement for VSHG were:• the Bogor goals towards trade liberalisation• liberalisation of transport services to promote trade• capacity building• promoting technological advances• standardisation and mutual recognition• promoting safety and security• environmentally friendly and sustainable transport• environmental concerns: the next Ministerial meeting would be in 2009, for which a progress report would berequired from the group
4.
Progress reports of Action Plan to introduce ECE Regulations
4.1.
Overall status of recent UN/ECE/WP29 sessions (Korea)
Noted : Korea’s report on recent WP29 meetings (Appendix 1): there was a growing interest at WP29 in the process of evaluating regulations at
national level, which might be an area of work for VSHG in the future: the proposals for pedestrian safety were close to finalisation
4.2.
Brief reports of each party’s harmonization progress (Each Economy)
Noted : the report from Thailand (Appendix 2): the report from Chinese Taipei (Appendix 3): the report from Australia (Appendix 4): in August Australia would become a signatory to the1998 Agreement: ADR 57 contained additional issues for motorcycles (e.g. width of handlebars). It
had been introduced because the state regulations had existed for some time and werenot necessarily based on any scientific data. To remove it would require going throughthe procedure for justifying why a regulation was not necessary: Australia would make a presentation on evaluating regulations at national level at thenext meeting

: Japan’s oral report that they had adopted 37 ECE regulations most recently R78 on
motorcycle brakes and R123 on Adaptive Front-lighting Systems: Singapore’s oral report that they were consolidating their rules with a view toincluding more ECE Regulations at a later date
: Indonesia wanted to follow the 1958 Agreement and would be discussing this with
their stakeholders. They had already introduced R40, R47, R49 and R83 for emissions.
In October 2007 they would discuss noise regulations for all vehicles.
: Philippines was starting the process of introducing ECE Regulations
Agreed: Members of the group would send their information on the implementation of theIMMA core list of regulations to IMMA for consolidation in time for the next meeting.
Members would also add information on any national regulations that they had
introduced or retained for motorcycles: Members of the group would send information on the status of their emissions
regulations to Australia (giving the appropriate reference to EU or ECE Regulations),by four weeks before the next meeting
4.3

Strategies to assist economies integrate into the UNECE framework for vehicle
regulation
Noted : the presentation from Australia (Appendix 5): in the 1958 Agreement, “adopt” meant that the regulation had been established by theUN; “apply” meant that the regulation was implemented by the Contracting Party: with new regulations, Contracting Parties to the 1958 Agreement were able to vote,and were assumed to apply the regulations unless they notified the UN Secretary
General that they would not do so5.
Technical Discussions
5.1.
NCAP in Korea
Noted : the presentation by Korea on its NCAP programme (Appendix 6)
5.2.
GTR development of ESC (Electronic Stability Control)
Noted : the presentation given by Australia on behalf of USA (Appendix 7)

5.3.
Activity for realization of MRA (Mutual Recognition of Approval)
Noted : the presentation given by Japan (Appendix 8)
5.4.
Advanced vehicle development – implications for regulation
Noted : the presentation by Australia on new vehicle technologies (Appendix 9)
5.5Report on attendance at Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference 2007
Noted : Australia’s summary of the ESV Conference:• ESV was coordinated by NHTSA (USA) on behalf of a group of countries
active in research and regulatory development• the topics were on the latest technical developments• the new rise in motorcycle accidents, often associated with the increase in
numbers of older riders• the International Harmonised Research Activity (IHRA) had been suspended,
pending the development of a more refined model for collaborative research: the hope in technical development was that computer-aided designs would introduce
a new level of safety: the growing concern in road safety circles was that drivers would start to drive
differently (and probably worse) because they relied on the new technology to protect
them

5.6
Quadricycles
Noted : Australia had been asked to approve an electric quadricycle for use on their roads, on
the grounds that it was an environmentally friendly vehicle. They had therefore
conducted the standard off-set frontal crash test and the result had been fatal injuries tothe dummy. The results had been compared with those from a small passenger car,which had passed the crash test, and the quadricycle had been considerably less able towithstand an impact.
: the proponents of the vehicle had argued that it had a restricted performance, but
Australia had pointed out that its top speed was higher than the crash test speed
6.
Future directions for VSHG
Noted : the group found the subjects covered useful, in particular:• reports on the work in WP29
• the progress reports on the introduction of ECE Regulations• background information on technology issues• as a new activity to have explanations on what changes were being proposed
for the ECE Regulations and why• reports on new items and problems arising in the Member economies which
the group could discuss: the group would start using templates to:• meet the Ministerial Agreed Actions• report on progress with introducing regulations• inform the group of questions and problems
P Robertson
Session Chairman