economic commission for europe - unece

Revision of the publication "WP.29: How it works, how to join it" Introduction As requested by WP.29 (see ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1089, para. 84) the UN
publication "WP.29; how it works, how to joint it", known as the "Blue
Book" has been revised, taking into account the different contributions
provided about national and regional regulatory process form Canada
(WP.29-153-17), the European Union (WP.29-153-25), the Republic of
Korea (WP.29-153-32), the Russian Federation (WP.29-153-38) and India
(WP.29-153-40). It has also been updated with the new Contracting
Parties to the Agreements. Furthermore, some charts have been
reorganized and the terms UN Regulations, UN global technical
regulation (UN gtr) and UN Rule, have been harmonized. I. Proposal The proposal is reproduced in the following pages.
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE WORLD FORUM
FOR HARMONIZATION OF VEHICLE REGULATIONS (WP.29)
HOW IT WORKS HOW TO JOIN IT
UNITED NATIONS New York and Geneva, 2011
Copyright © United Nations, 2011
All rights reserved
Printed at United Nations, Geneva (Switzerland)
Chapter 1 Foreword and Executive Summary This is the third edition of the publication, currently referred to as the
Blue Book, which gives precise information on WP.29, the World Forum for
Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations: its background, its administrative
and legal framework with an user's guide, and the three international
United Nations (UN) Agreements which are administered by the World Forum
WP.29. The World Forum is a permanent Working Party within the institutional
framework of the United Nations, which has specific terms of reference and
rules of procedure. The most important part of the terms of reference is to
administer three international UN Agreements on motor vehicles: the 1958
and 1998 Agreements on the construction and performance requirements of
vehicles, and the 1997 Agreement on periodical technical inspection. WP.29
ensures consistency between the three types of UN regulations and rules
developed in the legal framework of these Agreements. Participation to WP.29 is open to any country member of the United Nations
and any Regional Economic Integration Organization (REIO) set up by these
countries, which may become Contracting Parties to the Agreements.
Governmental organizations (GOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
may also participate in a consultative capacity. The work of the World Forum WP.29 is transparent: all agendas, working
documents and reports are freely accessible to everybody on the Internet
website of WP.29: http://live.unece.org/trans/main/welcwp29.html The main features of the Agreements administered by WP.29 are as follows: The 1958 Agreement provides the legal and administrative framework for
establishing harmonized international UN Regulations (which are annexed to
the Agreement and have its full legal value), for granting type approvals
according to the specifications of each UN Regulation, and for the mutual
recognition of the type approvals granted by each Contracting Party.
Contracting parties are not obliged to apply all the UN Regulations annexed
to the Agreement: they may choose those, if any, they decide to apply when
accede to the Agreement. This Agreement has currently 49 Contracting
Parties and 127 UN Regulations annexed to it. The UN Regulations are
updated, whenever appropriate, to take into account political guidance from
the Contracting Parties, the evolution of scientific knowledge and
technological progress. The 1998 Agreement provides that Contracting Parties will establish, by
consensus vote, global technical regulations (gtrs) in a registry. The
provisions of the gtrs are only technical (test procedures) and mention
whenever possible performance requirements. The Contracting Parties keep
some degree of freedom in the process of transposition of the gtrs in their
national administrative system. This Agreement has currently 31 Contracting
Parties and 11 gtrs have been included in the global registry. The 1997 Agreement provides that Contracting Parties will establish rules
on periodical inspections of vehicles and shall reciprocally recognize the
international inspection certificates granted according to the Rules
annexed to the Agreement. For each Agreement, the final decisions on new UN regulations and rules and
amendments to existing ones are taken, according to the internal provisions
of the corresponding Agreement, by the Administrative or the Executive
Committees, which are exclusively composed of the Contracting Parties to
the Agreements represented by their Governments. Before the decision, all
the preparatory work is done openly and transparently in WP.29 with the
participation of all representatives of countries, being Contracting
Parties or not, and experts from GOs and NGOs. Thanks to its long experience, its expertise and the involvement of all
interested stakeholders, WP.29 has shown its ability to produce high
quality UN Regulations in a timely manner. Contracting Parties, as the
European Union, have decided to organize their internal legislation by a
direct reference to UN Regulations annexed to the 1958 Agreement.
Furthermore, some of these UN Regulations have been recognized, on a
voluntary basis, by countries which are beyond the existing Contracting
Parties.
Chapter II Participation in WP.29 WP.29 fosters worldwide participation in its activities by encouraging
cooperation and collaboration between countries and regional economic
integration organizations with regard to technical matters that come before
it and before its Working Parties. WP.29 also encourages an open and
transparent dialogue between government regulators, other technical experts
competent in the field of technical requirements for vehicles, and the
general public, in order to ensure that best safety and environmental
practices are adopted and economic implications are taken into account in
the development of UN regulations. The meetings of WP.29 are public. Any
government and any other interested party may attend and observe the
proceedings of the meetings. Participation of Governments In accordance with Rule 1 of the Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure
of WP.29 (Annex I), any country member of the United Nations, and any
regional economic integration organization set up by countries members of
the United Nations, may participate fully or in a consultative capacity in
the activities of WP.29 and become a contracting party to the Agreements
administered by WP.29. For specific details on participation in WP.29,
please refer to the Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure in Annex I. The official process for becoming a participant is simply to send a letter
signed by the authorized official of an interested country or Regional
Economic Integration Organization (REIO) notifying the Secretariat of WP.29
of the desire of that country or REIO to send representative(s) to the
meetings and to participate in the activities of WP.29. If a country or REIO wishes to become a contracting party to an Agreement
administered by WP.29, its consent to be bound by that agreement must be in
accordance with the provisions of that Agreement. Those provisions include
signature, and notifications of ratification, acceptance, approval or
accession. Please refer to Article 6 of the 1958 Agreement, Article 9 of
the 1998 Global Agreement and Article 4 of the 1997 Agreement on Periodical
Technical Inspections, as presented in Annexes II, III and IV respectively. While an Agreement is open for signature and a country or REIO expresses
its consent to be bound by an Agreement by signing it, the signing must be: . Done by the Head of State, Head of Government or Minister for
Foreign Affairs of that country, or . By a different person possessing a valid instrument of Full Powers
signed by one of the afore mentioned representatives of a country or
REIO, indicating clearly the title of the Agreement and the name and
function of the official authorized to sign.
At the time of signing, or in the text of Full Powers, it shall be
expressively indicated if the signature is definitive, or only a simple
signature, subject to ratification. For the Agreements in force, for which the period of opening for signature
had been closed, a country or REIO may express its consent to be bound by
an Agreement by depositing an instrument of accession with the Secretary-
General of the United Nations. Models of an instrument of Accession, Ratification, Acceptance or Approval
are reproduced below: MODEL INSTRUMENT OF RATIFICATION, ACCEPTANCE OR APPROVAL
(To be signed by the Head of State, Head of Government or Minister for
Foreign Affairs)
[RATIFICATION / ACCEPTANCE / APPROVAL]
WHEREAS the [title of treaty, convention, agreement, etc.] was
[concluded, adopted, opened for signature, etc.] at [place] on [date],
AND WHEREAS the said [treaty, conven