Geoff Draper – GTB President
GTB’s 121st session, hosted by its growing UK Delegation, was held at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel in London from 23-27 May 2016. With an excellent attendance of 73 delegates all of the 20 member delegations were represented, including a large and active group from South Korea that joined GTB in November 2015. It is rewarding to see that interest in the work of GTB continues to grow, particularly in the US and the Asian countries as they focus upon updating their national legislation to align more closely to the UN technical requirements.
This 121st session was expected to be demanding with a very full agenda requiring hard debate and willingness to reach decisions. We were not disappointed! Both the General Assembly and the Committee of Experts debated the redefinition of GTB’s mission and vision. This redefinition is necessary to reinforce the position of GTB in the rapidly changing regulatory world as governments intensify their emphasis on safety based upon research, the removal of barriers to innovation and minimising the administrative burden through the creation of simplified and stable regulation. However, the main objective of this session was to reach conclusions on topics associated with the device regulations that will be closed to amendment, after the 76th GRE in October 2016, according to the GRE plan to simplify the UN regulations. As GRE is only expected to adopt proposals formally submitted before the 29 July 2016 deadline the pressure is really on!