1958 Agreement Unece

The 1958 Convention is an agreement within the framework of the UNECE to establish uniform standards for vehicles and their components with regard to safety, environmental, energy and anti-theft requirements. The title of the Agreement reads as follows: “Agreement concerning the Adoption of Uniform Technical Prescriptions for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment and Parts Which Can be Fitted and/or Used on Wheeled Vehicles and the Conditions for Mutual Recognition of Approvals Granted on the Basis of Such Prescriptions”. The objective of the Agreement is to promote the harmonisation of regulations and the mutual recognition of authorisations between the Parties to the Convention. (further details can be found in the Wp.29 Terms of Reference on page 32 of the WP.29 publication “WP.29 How it works – How to join it” here:www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/wp29pub.htmlThe agreement in its original form only allowed the participation of UNECE members. The former title was “Convention on the Adoption of Uniform Conditions for Approval and Mutual Recognition of Approval of Motor Vehicle Equipment and Parts, done at Geneva on 20 March 1958”. It was revised in 1995 (revision 2) to encourage the participation of non-European countries and became a global agreement. In addition, the agreement recognises self-certification as an alternative to type-approval and therefore does not prevent countries whose rules and regulations are implemented through self-certification from becoming parties. The amended text of the 1958 Agreement (Revision 2) was adopted on 16 October 1958. October 1995.

There are currently 41 Contracting Parties (+ Ireland, Cyprus and Malta due to the accession of the EC) to this Convention. The arrangements adopted under this Agreement shall be referred to as UN regulations. There are currently 127 UN regulations in force. A list of the titles of all regulations can be found on pages 6 to 13 of status document TRANS/WP.29/343:(see: www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/wp29fdocstts.html)The text of the Convention and all the United Nations Regulations annexed to it can be consulted or downloaded here: www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs.html The 1998 Convention is a global agreement and runs in parallel with the 1958 Convention. It establishes a process by which countries in all regions of the world can jointly develop United Nations Global Technical Regulations (RDIs) for vehicles and their components. The aim of the agreement is to promote the participation of different countries in UN gtrs without recognising the mutual recognition of approvals or certifications. As of May 2013: There were 33 Contracting Parties to the 1998 Convention.The title of the Convention reads as follows: “Convention on the Establishment of Global Technical Regulations for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment and Parts Which May Be Fitted to Wheeled and/or Used Vehicles”, signed in Geneva on 25 June 1998. The status of the 1998 Convention is usually indicated in an informal document for the last sessions of amendments WP.29 and AC.3. This document is publicly available on the Wp.29 website at: www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/geninf135.htmlOn 17 November 2004, the Executive Committee (AC.3) of the 1998 Convention established the first United Nations General Assembly for Door Locks and Door Restraint Components (UN-GTR No.

1). In May 2013, 12 UN gtrs and their amendments were prepared, and work on further UN gtrs is still ongoing within the framework of WP.29 and its subsidiary bodies. The UN gtrs and their amendments, the proposals for the development of new UN gtrs, as well as the format and guidelines for the creation of new UN gtrs can be consulted and downloaded from the following WP.29 website: www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/wp29glob.html vehicles sold and put into service in a country must comply with the regulations and standards of that country. The registration procedure of this country requires the approval of the vehicle and/or its components. Adopting separate national regulations and approval procedures in different countries requires costly design changes, additional testing, and dual approvals. Therefore, it is necessary to harmonise the different national technical requirements applicable to vehicles and to develop a single international regulation. Once the vehicle or its equipment and parts are manufactured and registered in accordance with this Regulation, they may be traded internationally without further testing or approval. In addition, these regulations must be continuously adapted to technical progress and new requirements for safety and environmental protection. In order to reduce barriers to international trade and promote global trade in vehicles and their components, efforts are being made to harmonize vehicle regulations worldwide. The main forum for this role is the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

(continued: www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/wp29pub.html) Mutual recognition of approvals under the 1958 Convention aims to facilitate international trade in vehicles and their components. When a component is approved by one of the Contracting Parties to the 1958 Convention in accordance with a UN Regulation, all other Contracting Parties which have signed the same Regulation shall recognize that approval. This avoids repeated testing and approval of components in different countries to which they are exported. This reduces the time and cost required for the design, manufacture and approval as well as the commissioning of vehicles and their components. (continued: www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/wp29pub.html) The core of the Forum`s work is based on the “1958 Agreement” officially entitled “Agreement on the Adoption of Uniform Technical Prescriptions for Wheeled Vehicles, Equipment and Parts which May Be Fitted and/or Be Used on Wheeled Vehicles and the Conditions for Mutual Recognition of Approvals Granted on the Basis of These Prescriptions” (E/ECE/TRANS/505/Rev.2, amended october 16, 1995). This provides a legal framework within which the participating countries (Contracting Parties) agree on common technical requirements and protocols for the type-approval of vehicles and components. These were previously called “UNECE Regulations” or, more formally, “UNECE Regulations” in reference to the Economic Commission for Europe. However, since many non-European countries are now parties to the 1958 agreement, the regulations are officially titled “UN Regulations”. [2] [3] In accordance with the principle of mutual recognition set out in the Agreement, the type approvals of each Party shall be recognised by all other Contracting Parties.

In the list of relevant official documents of each Regulation (see status document TRANS/WP.29/343, table on even pages), the fourth column mentions the wp.29 meeting where the last WP.29 and AC.1 document was adopted, the fifth column the symbol (and paragraph number) of the corresponding WP.29 session report (available here): www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gen/wp29rep.html) and the sixth column refers to the official document under which the original document or its amendment is published. .