APEC Transportation Working Group Meeting
19-23 April 1999
Santiago CHILE

Road Transport Harmonisation Project
Activities for the Private Sector
OICA Contribution

Industry Guest

OICA (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers)
 ACTIVITIES FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR
OICA CONTRIBUTION

I LEGAL FRAMEWORK

1. ECE ‘58 Agreement

• Established in 1958, revised in 1995.

• Aim: set-up a legal framework for the mutual recognition of approvals for motorvehicles systems and parts.

• Currently 33 individual countries have acceded to the 58 Agreement (including Japan). Also the European Union as a whole is signatory.

• Currently contains 110 separate ECE Regulations (environment, safety).

• ECE Regulations are based on principle of optionality: signatories may select which Regulations they accept.

• Several other countries accept approvals granted to (a selection of) separate ECE Regulations as alternative to their national requirements.

• Mutual recognition of approvals is based on type approval systems, necessitating government approval prior to production/sale.

2. Global Agreement

• Established in 1998.

• Aim: set-up a legal framework for the establishment of Global Regulations for motor vehicles systems and parts (environment, safety).

• Global Regulations expected to be widely recognized by individual governments.

• Global Regulations expected to incorporate various levels of stringency in order to accommodate individual needs.

• Signatories : US
  Signature expected by European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, ...

• Does not provide for mechanism of mutual recognition of approvals: currently restricted to elaboration of technical requirements.

II ELABORATION OF GLOBAL REGULATIONS

1. OICA activities : selection of candidates

1. 1st wave, selected on the basis of a first comparison of the various requirements existing worldwide:

• windshield wiper/washer systems
• windshield defrost/demist systems
• safety belt anchorages
• seat belts (work undertaken by CLEPA)

Proposals for this 1st wave are expected to be submitted to WP29-118 of June 99, during which a review of the principles applied by OICA might be conducted and the programme of work of WP29 and its Working Parties be adapted in order to allocate high priorities to conclude development of an initial set of global motor vehicle safety regulations.

2. 2nd wave :

• door latches and retention systems
• fuel system integrity
• anti-theft systems
• seat strength
• glazing materials

Proposals for this 2nd wave will be submitted following experience gained from the 1st wave. Other proposals will follow in due course.

3. 3rd wave : proposals will be submitted on issues affecting the basic architecture of vehicle platforms, such as (but not necessarily limited to) :

• frontal impact
• side impact

4. Light Duty Emissions: industry intends to develop a workplan for harmonization of light duty vehicles emission requirements in the 2010 time frame.

5. Heavy Duty Emissions: work carried out under the auspices of the ECE/WP29 Working Party on Pollution and Energy (GRPE) aims at developing a new, harmonized test procedure for heavy duty diesel engines (driving cycle and measurement procedures). OICA, in cooperation with Japan (JAMA/JARI) is actively involved in a test program on measurement procedures.

2. OICA experience

Following the ongoing work on the elaboration of Global Regulations for worldwide applications, OICA has encountered the following main difficulties:

• Vehicle categories :

• large differences exist worldwide between the different vehicle categories, leading to large differences in the technical requirements applicable to each vehicle category.

• consequently, OICA has decided, for the 1st wave proposals, to only consider 玀1" passenger cars (as defined in the 58 Agreement), offering the best prospects for harmonization in the short term.

• industry is committed to offer its assistance in elaborating globally applicable vehicle definitions.

• Certification procedures :

• current known certification procedures are de-facto based on :

• type approval, necessitating government involvement prior to production/sale

• Self-certification, not necessitating government involvement prior to sale, but allowing government involvement after production start.

• since the Global Agreement does not (yet) contain any certification mechanism, OICA decided not to consider certification at this time.

III CERTIFICATION

• Global Agreement currently does not provide for a harmonized certification mechanism.

• 58 Agreement provides for mutual recognition of type approval and has worked well over the last 40 years.

• Industry is committed to offer its assistance in order to bridge the 2 concepts of Type Approval and Self Certification, thereby facilitating application of the 玊ested once, accepted everywhere?principle.

• For the future, new ideas may need development, such as type approval based on manufacturer test data (self-testing), certification of manufacturer/manufacturing process instead of end product, etc.

IV OICA RECOMMENDATIONS TO APEC

1. APEC members with type approval mechanism

• Accede to 58 Agreement and accept ECE Regulations

• would allow to be part of process
• would allow granting of ECE approvals

• Accept other requirements as national alternative (e.g. FMVSS, EPA, Japan)

• would guarantee high level of safety and environment protection
• would allow maximum opening

2. APEC members without type approval mechanism

• Accept technical requirements of ECE, Japan, US as fully equivalent alternatives.

3. All APEC members

• Accede to Global Agreement
• Participate in elaboration of Global Regulations
• Participate in elaboration of harmonized certification procedures
• Make sure Global Regulations take individual needs into account (e.g. various levels of stringency).

This page was last updated on 12 March, 2008