World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations

Working party

World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29)

Abbreviation	WP.29
Formation	1952
Type	Working Party
Legal status	Active
Head	Antonio Erario (2021-)
Parent organization	UNECE Inland Transport Committee
Website	UNECE Transport - WP29

The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations is a working party (WP.29) of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Its responsibility is to manage the multilateral Agreements signed in 1958, 1997 and 1998 concerning the technical prescriptions for the construction, approval of wheeled vehicles as well as their Periodic Technical Inspection and, to operate within the framework of these three Agreements to develop and amend UN Regulations, UN Global Technical Regulations and UN Rules, kind of vehicle regulation.

WP.29 was established in June 1952 as the "Working Party of experts on technical requirement of vehicles", while its current name was adopted in 2000.

At its inception, WP.29 had a broader European scope. Since 2000, the global scope of this forum was recognized given the active participation of Countries in all continents, excluding the United States and Canada, who developed incompatible standards.

The forum works on regulations covering vehicle safety, environmental protection, energy efficiency and theft-resistance.

This work affects de facto vehicle design and facilitates international trade.

Organization

There are six permanent Working Parties which are subsidiary bodies that consider specialized tasks, consisting of people with a specific expertise:

Noise and Tyres (GRBP)
Lighting and Light-Signalling (GRE)
Pollution and Energy (GRPE)
Automated and Connected Vehicles (GRVA)
General Safety Provisions (GRSG)
Passive Safety (GRSP)

1958 Agreement

The core of the Forum's work is based around the "1958 Agreement", formally titled "Agreement concerning the adoption of uniform technical prescriptions for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts which can be fitted and/or be used on wheeled vehicles and the conditions for reciprocal recognition of approvals granted on the basis of these prescriptions" (E/ECE/TRANS/505/Rev.2, amended on 16 October 1995). This forms a legal framework wherein participating countries (contracting parties) agree on a common set of technical prescriptions and protocols for type approval of vehicles and components. These were formerly called "UNECE Regulations" or, less formally, "ECE Regulations" in reference to the Economic Commission for Europe. However, since many non-European countries are now contracting parties to the 1958 Agreement, the regulations are officially entitled "UN Regulations". According to the mutual recognition principle set in the Agreement, each Contracting Party's Type Approvals are recognised by all other Contracting Parties.

Participating countries

Formally signing the 1958 Agreement was possible till June 30 of that year, and five countries chose to do so: Italy (March 28), Netherlands (March 30), West Germany (June 19), France (June 26), and Hungary (June 30). Sweden and Belgium acceded soon after. Originally, the agreement allowed participation of ECE member countries only, but in 1995 the agreement was revised to allow non-ECE members to participate. Current participants include the European Union and its member countries, as well as non-EU UNECE members such as Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Azerbaijan, and even remote territories such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

Contracting parties to the 1958 Agreement are referenced by a Distinguishing Number, historically corresponding to the chronological order in which the countries became such member parties. As of 2022, the participants of the Agreement, with their Distinguishing Number, were:

Dist. Number	Country	Effective date	Notes
1	Germany	28 January 1965
2	France	20 June 1959
3	Italy	26 April 1963
4	Netherlands	29 August 1960
5	Sweden	20 June 1959
6	Belgium	5 September 1959
7	Hungary	2 July 1960
8	Czech Republic	1 January 1993	(formerly Czechoslovakia)
9	Spain	10 October 1961
10	Serbia	12 March 2001	(formerly Yugoslavia)
11	United Kingdom	16 March 1963
12	Austria	11 May 1971
13	Luxembourg	12 December 1971
14	Switzerland	28 August 1973
16	Norway	4 April 1975
17	Finland	17 September 1976
18	Denmark	20 December 1976
19	Romania	21 February 1977
20	Poland	13 March 1979
21	Portugal	28 March 1980
22	Russian Federation	17 February 1987
23	Greece	5 December 1992
24	Ireland	24 March 1998
25	Croatia	8 October 1991
26	Slovenia	25 June 1991
27	Slovakia	1 January 1993
28	Belarus	2 July 1995
29	Estonia	1 May 1995
30	Republic of Moldova	20 November 2016
31	Bosnia and Herzegovina	6 March 1992
32	Latvia	18 January 1999
34	Bulgaria	21 January 2000
35	Kazakhstan	8 January 2011
36	Lithuania	29 March 2002
37	Turkey	27 February 1996
39	Azerbaijan	14 June 2002
40	North Macedonia	17 November 1991
41	Andorra	11 April 2023
42	European Union	24 March 1998
43	Japan	24 November 1998
45	Australia	25 April 2000
46	Ukraine	30 June 2000
47	South Africa	17 June 2001
48	New Zealand	26 January 2002
49	Cyprus	1 May 2004
50	Malta	1 May 2004
51	South Korea	31 December 2004
52	Malaysia	4 April 2006
53	Thailand	1 May 2006
54	Albania	5 November 2011
55	Armenia	30 April 2018
56	Montenegro	3 June 2006
57	San Marino	26 January 2016
58	Tunisia	1 January 2008
60	Georgia	25 May 2015
62	Egypt	3 February 2013
63	Nigeria	18 October 2018
64	Pakistan	24 April 2020
65	Uganda	22 October 2022
66	Philippines	2 January 2023
67	Viet Nam	26 July 2023
68	Kyrgyzstan	1 September 2023

Most countries, even if not formally participating in the 1958 agreement, recognise the UN Regulations and either mirror the UN Regulations' content in their own national requirements, or permit the import, registration, and use of UN type-approved vehicles, or both. The United States and Canada (apart from Lighting Regulations) are the two significant exceptions; the UN Regulations are generally not recognised and UN-compliant vehicles and equipment are not authorised for import, sale, or use in the two regions, unless they are tested to be compliant with the region's car safety laws, or for limited non driving use (e.g. car show displays).

Type approval

Two types of approval mark: top - according to UN regulations, bottom - according to EU regulations (or directives)

The 1958 Agreement operates on the principles of type approval and reciprocal recognition. Any country that accedes to the 1958 Agreement has authority to test and approve any manufacturer's design of a regulated product, regardless of the country in which that component was produced. Each individual design from each individual manufacturer is counted as one individual type. Once any acceding country grants a type approval, every other acceding country is obliged to honor that type approval and regard that vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment as legal for import, sale and use. Items type-approved according to a UN Regulation are marked with an E and a Distinguishing Number, within a circle. This number indicates which country approved the item, and other surrounding letters and digits indicate the precise version of the regulation met and the type approval number, respectively.

Although all countries' type approvals are legally equivalent, there are real and perceived differences in the rigour with which the regulations and protocols are applied by different national type approval authorities. Some countries have their own national standards for granting type approvals, which may be more stringent than called for by the UN regulations themselves. Within the auto parts industry, a German (E1) type approval, for example, is regarded as a measure of insurance against suspicion of poor quality or an undeserved type approval.

UN Regulations

As of 2015, there are 135 UN Regulations appended to the 1958 Agreement; most regulations cover a single vehicle component or technology. A partial list of current regulations applying to passenger cars follows (different regulations may apply to heavy vehicles, motorcycles, etc.)

Recently, a new regulation, regulation 0 was introduced. Regulation 0, is the "International Whole Vehicle Type Approval (IWVTA)" while allow to define international compliance to a set of regulations.

General lighting

R3 — Retroreflecting devices
R4 — Illumination of rear registration plates
R6 — Direction indicators
R7 — Front and rear position lamps, stop lamps and end-outline marker lamps
R19 — Front fog lamps
R23 — Reversing lights
R37 — Filament lamps (bulbs) (See: Automotive lamp types)
R38 — Rear fog lamps
R48 — Installation of lighting and light-signalling devices
R77 — Parking lamps
R87 — Daytime running lamps
R91 — Side marker lamps
R112 — Headlamp Asymmetric
R119 — Cornering lamps
R123 — AFS lamps
R128 — LED light sources
R148 - Light Signaling Devices
R149 - Road Illumination Devices
R150 - Reflex Reflector Devices

Headlamps

R1 — Headlamps emitting an asymmetrical passing beam and/or a driving beam, equipped with R2 or HS1 bulbs (superseded by R112, but still valid for existing approvals)
R5 — Sealed Beam headlamps emitting an asymmetrical passing beam and/or a driving beam
R8 — Headlamps equipped with replaceable single-filament tungsten-halogen bulbs (superseded by R112, but still valid for existing approvals)
R20 — Headlamps emitting an asymmetrical passing beam and/or a driving beam and equipped with halogen double-filament H4 bulbs (superseded by R112, but still valid for existing approvals)
R31 — Halogen sealed beam headlamps emitting an asymmetrical passing beam and/or a driving beam
R45 — Headlamp cleaners
R98 — Headlamps equipped with gas-discharge light sources
R99 — Gas-discharge light sources for use in approved gas-discharge lamp units of power-driven vehicles (See: Automotive lamp types)
R112 — Headlamps emitting an asymmetrical passing beam and/or a driving beam and equipped with filament bulbs
R113 — Headlamps emitting a symmetrical passing beam and/or a driving beam and equipped with filament bulbs

Instrumentation/controls

R35 — arrangement of foot controls
R39 — speedometer equipment
R46 — rear-view mirrors
R79 — steering equipment
R160 — event data recorder

Crashworthiness

R11 — door latches and door retention components
R13-H — braking (passenger cars)
R13 — braking (trucks and busses)
R14 — safety belt anchorages
R16 — safety belts and restraint systems
R17 — seats, seat anchorages, head restraints
R27 — advance-warning triangles
R42 — front and rear protective devices (bumpers, etc.)
R43 — safety glazing materials and their installation on vehicles
R94 — protection of the occupants in the event of a frontal collision
R95 — protection of the occupants in the event of a lateral collision
R116 — protection of motor vehicles against unauthorized use
R129 — enhanced child restraint systems (ECRS)

Environmental compatibility

R10 — electromagnetic compatibility
R15 — emissions and fuel consumption (superseded by R83, R84 and R101)
R24 — engine power measurement, smoke emissions, engine type approval
R51 — noise emissions
R68 — measurement of the maximum speed
R83 — emission of pollutants according to engine fuel requirements
R84 — measurement of fuel consumption
R85 — electric drive trains — measurement of the net power and the maximum 30 minutes power of electric drive trains
R100 — approval of battery electric vehicles with regard to specific requirements for the construction, Functional Safety and hydrogen emission.
R101 — measurement of the emission of carbon dioxide and fuel consumption
R117 — approval limits for pass-by noise, wet grip, and rolling resistance. These values are also used on the tyre label

Tyres and wheels

R30 — Tyres for passenger cars and their trailers
R54 — Tyres for commercial vehicles and their trailers
R64 — Temporary use spare unit, run flat tyres, run flat-system
R75 — Tyres for motorcycles/mopeds
R88 — Retroreflective tyres for two-wheeled vehicles
R106 — Tyres for agricultural vehicles
R108 — Retreaded tyres for passenger cars and their trailers
R109 — Retreaded tyres for commercial vehicles and their trailers
R124 — Replacement wheels for passenger cars
R141 — Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS)

Automated/autonomous and connected vehicle regulations

R155 — cyber security
R156 — software updates
R157 — automated lane keeping system

Brake

R90 — ECE Regulation 90

Other regulations

European union also applies other UNECE regulations for cars produced in unlimited series: R34 — against fire, R28 — Audible warning, R21, R12, R26, R123 — Adaptive front-lighting, R121 — Location and identification of hand controls, tell-tales and indicators, R122 — Heating, R25 — Head restraints, R55 — combinations of vehicles, R67, R97, R110. European union also applies its own (non-UNECE) regulations such as European Community regulations.

North America

The most notable non-signatory to the 1958 Agreement is the United States, which has its own Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and does not recognise UN type approvals. However, both the United States and Canada are parties to the 1998 Agreement. UN-specification vehicles and components which do not also comply with the US regulations therefore cannot be imported to the US without extensive modifications. Canada has its own Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, broadly similar to the US FMVSS, but Canada does also accept UN-compliant headlamps and bumpers. The impending Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union could see Canada recognise more UN Regulations as acceptable alternatives to the Canadian regulations. Canada currently applies 14 of the 17 ECE main standards as allowable alternatives - the exceptions at this point relate to motorcycle controls and displays, motorcycle mirrors, and electronic stability control for passenger cars. These three remaining groups will be allowed in Canada by the time the ratification of the trade deal occurs.

Grey Market (1976-88)

Vehicles built in compliance with global safety and emissions regulations were still available to Americans in the period 1976-88, as individual imports. This was via the grey market. Many of the finest, iconic automobiles of the Malaise era, such as the Lamborghini Countach, Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Range Rover were officially forbidden to Americans, but this outlet proved viable for many years. The grey market reached 66,900 vehicles imported by individual consumers in 1985, and altered to meet U.S. design regulations. It is no longer possible to import a vehicle into the United States as a personal import, with four exceptions, none of which permits Americans to buy recent vehicles not officially available in the United States. Even prominent billionaire Bill Gates and his Porsche 959 have proven unable.

Self-certification

Rather than a UN-style system of type approvals, the US and Canadian auto safety regulations operate on the principle of self-certification, wherein the manufacturer or importer of a vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment certifies—i.e., asserts and promises—that the vehicle or equipment complies with all applicable federal or Canada Motor Vehicle Safety, bumper and antitheft standards. No prior verification is required by a governmental agency or authorised testing entity before the vehicle or equipment can be imported, sold, or used. If reason develops to believe the certification was false or improper — i.e., that the vehicle or equipment does not in fact comply — then authorities may conduct tests and, if a noncompliance is found, order a recall and/or other corrective and/or punitive measures. Vehicle and equipment makers are permitted to appeal such penalties, but this is a difficult direction. Non-compliances found that are arguably without effect to highway safety may be petitioned to skip recall (remedy and notification) requirements for vehicles already produced.

Regulatory differences

Historically, one of the most conspicuous differences between UN and US regulations was the design and performance of headlamps. The Citroën DS shown here illustrates the large differences in headlamps during the 1940-1983 era when US regulations required sealed beam headlamps, which were prohibited in many European countries. A similar approach was evident with the US mandatory side marker lights.

1998 Agreement

The "Agreement concerning the Establishing of Global Technical Regulations for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment and Parts which can be fitted and/or be used on Wheeled Vehicles", or 1998 Agreement, is a subsequent agreement. Following its mission to harmonize vehicle regulations, the UNECE solved the main issues (Administrative Provisions for Type approval opposed to self-certification and mutual recognition of Type Approvals) preventing non-signatory Countries to the 1958 Agreement to fully participate to its activities.

The 1998 Agreement is born to produce meta regulations called Global Technical Regulations without administrative procedures for type approval and so, without the principle of mutual recognition of Type Approvals. The 1998 Agreement stipulates that Contracting Parties will establish, by consensus vote, United Nations Global Technical Regulations (UN GTRs) in a UN Global Registry. The UN GTRs contain globally harmonized performance requirements and test procedures. Each UN GTR contains extensive notes on its development. The text includes a record of the technical rationale, the research sources used, cost and benefit considerations, and references to data consulted. The Contracting Parties use their nationally established rulemaking processes when transposing UN GTRs into their national legislation. As of October 2024, the 1998 Agreement has 40 Contracting Parties and 24 UN GTRs that have been established into the UN Global Registry. Manufacturers and suppliers cannot use directly the UN GTRs as these are intended to serve the Countries and require transposition in national or regional law.

2013 Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (proposed)

As part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, the issues of divergent standards in automobile regulatory structure are being investigated. TTIP negotiators are seeking to identify ways to narrow the regulatory differences, potentially reducing costs and spurring additional trade in vehicles.

OICA

Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA) hosts on its web site the working documents from various United Nations expert groups including World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.

References

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^ "U.S. and EU Motor Vehicle Standards: Issues for Transatlantic Trade Negotiations" (PDF). 18 February 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
"Press Releases". Archived from the original on 18 June 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
"eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations". www.ecfr.gov.
"Motivemagazine.com - Motive Tech: The Difference Between US and European Lights". Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
"1971 Citröen DS". 12 January 2015.
"Agreement concerning the Establishing of Global Technical Regulations for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment and Parts which can be fitted and/or be used on Wheeled Vehicles". United Nations Treaty Collection. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
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