Most of us reading this have at least some familiarity with at least some of the world’s lighting regulations. But those with only one foot (or none at all) in the lighting world tend to regard lighting regulations as among the densest, most arcane, most voluminous, and hardest to comprehend of all the regulations that apply to vehicles and vehicle equipment—see for example Bernard Govin’s interview towards the end of this report.
What are these complicated rules, and how are they devised? Why are there so many of them, and why do they specify what they specify? How come, in 2011, there is still transoceanic disagreement over what lights should be regulated and how? As the pace accelerates at which lighting technology increases, and as new players now begin to build and export cars and parts without a track record of understanding and complying with technical regulations, regulators face new challenges to keep the rules up to date with the technology and understandable to all.
This report covers all that material and more.
The first chapter describes each of the ECE regulation organisations in detail and presents the main recent decisions, as well as important subjects still in discussion. The next two chapters cover the same subject for North America and Asia. There are annotated examples, there is commentary, and there are interviews with key players.