As you know, WP.29 has recently become the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. We are going global with our high European standards. The ECE is also heavily involved in promoting the development of more environmentally sound transport modes such as rail, inland water and combined transport, and has developed a number of related legal instruments to this end. On the environment side, I would like to make reference to the Convention on the Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and its related eight Protocols. They establish requirements and limits for the overall emissions of gaseous pollutants produced by all kinds of sources and sectors, including transport.
Implementation is of utmost importance.
Another ECE convention which is also worth mentioning here is the ECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context prescribes measures and procedures to prevent, control or reduce any significant adverse effect on the environment, which may be caused by a proposed activity also in the field of transport. Furthermore, in order to integrate environment and health issues into overall policies, plans and programmes of the economic sectors including transport, the ECE is in the process of developing, within the framework of this Convention, a legally binding instrument on Strategic Environmental Assessment. The latest meeting of the parties to this Convention in Sofia took the relevant decisions. The development of legal instruments has received a strong impetus from two policy-related processes. ECE member states have embarked on them in order to develop a broader and more integrated policy framework in transport and environment.