Special to DVN by GTB President Geoff Draper
My last report, published here in DVN this past 6 June, detailed the activities underway in GTB and in the GRE Informal Working Group responsible for carrying out the plan to simplify the UN regulations. I commented that “It is going to be a busy summer for GTB and its experts, as we take advantage of our opportunity of a lifetime”, and certainly we have been busy!
Now the summer is over and the GRE Informal Working Group (IWG-SLR) held its 20th session on 4–6 October to final-draft the new simplified regulations according to Stage 1 of the simplification plan. Also on the agenda was the launch of the Stage 2 plan to create technology-neutral technical requirements and to lower barriers to innovation. GTB presented ideas for the steps necessary to deliver the Stage 2 Simplification and explained the opportunity to synchronise the UN technical requirements with the Chinese GB standards by 2020; a copy of the GTB document is available here.
The Executive Director of the Chinese SAC/TC114/Sub Committee 21 on Auto Lighting and Convenor of its ad-hoc Chinese expert group working on the simplification of the GB lighting standards joined the IWG-SLR meeting via WebEx, along with his Chinese colleagues. He confirmed that the Chinese group will fully participate in the development of the GRE Stage 2 simplification and invited the IWG-SLR to China for their 22nd session in January 2018.