Last week GTB held its 112 th session in Dresden, Germany with more than 60 experts participating from Europe, Japan and the USA. The meetings were hosted by the German delegation and, in addition, the usual social evening and dinner was sponsored by the VW group who also arranged a special guided tour of the “Transparent Factory” where the VW Phaeton is assembled.
During the welcome speech Dr Wolfgang Huhn , representing the VW senior management, strongly outlined the essential and unique role of GTB to facilitate the integration of new technologies into the regulatory structure and the important role that lighting plays in terms of vehicle safety and vehicle sales.
The week started with meetings of the working groups responsible for Light Sources, Installation, Safety and Visual performance, Signal Lighting and Forward Lighting. The General Assembly considered a draft of the GTB By-Laws as the next step after the adoption of the Statutes at the beginning of 2011. The remaining two days were devoted to the Committee of Experts where the finalised proposals to amend the UN Regulations are examined and agreed. As usual the agenda was extensive but followed new rules and a new format to ensure sufficient time was available to encourage an open and detailed exchange of views.
In total 12 proposals will be submitted for the 67 th GRE session to be held in March 2012.
Among the topics discussed were:
• The Light Sources Working Group has identified a third group of light source categories to be phased out of Regulation 37.
• The proposals developed by the Voltage Control Gear Task Force were adopted. This taskforce was established to define how light source voltage control shall be managed in the context of the type approval of the headlamp and of the vehicle.