IWVTA-SGR0-07-…

Transmitted by the expert from Australia / Informal Document IWVTA-SGR0-07-04
(7th IWVTA-SGR0, 11-12 September 2013,
agenda item 3)

Position on the proposal by the Correspondence Group
regarding the obligations of Contracting Parties applying UNR0

Reference: document IWVTA-SGR0-06-03

The Australian expert fully supports the principle of International Whole Vehicle Type Approval (IWVTA) and United Nations (UN) R0 regulationunder the 1958 Agreement.

Australia’s understanding is that the primary purpose of IWVTA is served by extending the “application” of an individual regulation (by a Contracting Party (CP)) to include the installation of the regulated component/system to a vehicle.

However, in setting requirements for a Universal (U) IWVTA certificate to include acceptance of regulations which some CPs may not currently apply, the existing proposal for UNR0 sets additional mutual recognition requirements for some CPs, based on an “agreed” set of regulations in Annex 4 of UNR0.

These additional mutual recognition requirements would be problematic for Australia as they effectively represent committing to new standards (requiring domestic consultation) rather than just new certification arrangements (which is an administrative matter only) as was the purpose of IWVTA.

If other CPs are in a similar situation to Australia, this creates the likelihoodthat UNR0 would need to either be limited to a relatively short list of commonly applied UN Regulations or that only a small number of CPs would be able to apply UNR0.

To enable the most CPs as possible to apply a relatively expansive UNR0, Australia proposes that application of UNR0 only oblige a CP to accept a type approval Certificate of Conformance (CoC) for a vehicle in respect to the latest version (in accordance with any transition arrangements) of those individual regulations that are listed in the U-IWVTA and which the CP applies.

Background

In the Overview and issues of UN R0 discussion document presented at the June 2013 meeting of WP.29 (informal document WP.29-160-33 agenda item 4.3) the primary purpose of IWVTA was described as being to “upgrade the current approval system under the 1958 Agreement, which covers “mutual recognition of approval of vehicle systems and parts” to the “whole vehicle” level.

Currently, applying a regulation means that a CP must recognise approvals of components/systems (including Conformity of Production (CoP) aspects of those components/systems) towards the CP’s type approval of the whole vehicle. IWVTA extends this such that a CP must recognise the installation of those components/systems on the vehicle (including CoP aspects of the installation).

With reference to IWVTA-SG0-06-03, the question of which regulations (as annexed in UNR0) would require this extended obligation was partly discussed at the June 2013 (IWVTA-SGR0-06) meeting but only the following three options were offered, the third which appeared to be the most acceptable to most CPs:

  1. All CPs applying UNR0 must apply all annexed regulations[1];
  2. All CPs applying UNR0 must accept all annexed regulations in terms of spare parts; or
  3. “No additional obligation” (explained as meaning all CPs applying UNR0 must accept all annexed regulations regardless of whether they have applied them or not).

Note that these options relate to the obligations of CPs to accept UNR0 certificates, not the rights of CPs issuing certificates.

While it is understandable that manufacturers desire the entire technical content of a U-IWVTA Certificate of Conformance (CoC) to be accepted by all CPs applying UNR0, this would force CPs to commit to part or modified application of regulations, greatly complicating the nature of the application of regulations under the 1958 Agreement.

Australia’s proposal (“Option 4”) would allow:

  • Every CP to apply UNR0 straight away and gradually build towards full U-IWVTA by applying further individual regulations in line with its domestic program including any constraints in timing.
  • U-IWVTA to be developed independently of CPs agreement to the content of Annex 4; ie the regulations to be included could be negotiated within the working groups and in conjunction with the manufacturers to best cover the markets manufacturers wish to pursue. For example, Figure 1 shows all the regulations currently applied by CPs. There would be freedom to include within U-IWVTA whichever regulations manufacturers prefer in order to maximise the number of CPs covered (A) - or alternatively the number of regulations covered (B). This could be revised at any time as a simple administrative task.

A CP should of course be able to accept any other regulations outside of its obligation under the 1958 Agreement. This could include earlier versions or variations to regulations such as limiting to particular vehicle categories or other domestic conditions or exemptions. The UN can host individual requirements on its website for the information of manufacturers wishing to supply to that market.

As with the current proposal, CoCs of Limited Validity or Limited Recognition would be issued/accepted on a discretionary basis to fill this need.

Figure 1

Optimising the regulations to be listed in Annex 4 of the UNR0 for U-IWVTA

UN regulations applied (light green) and not applied (dark red) in order of frequency (Y axis) and by Contracting Party name (X axis)

1

[1] Australia’s proposal is different to Option 1 as each CP need only apply some of the annexed regulations (although it may also accept others at its own discretion – see the second last paragraph above).