United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) is an international body headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Under the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) of UN-ECE, several groups deal with transport-related technical and administrative matters. The group WP.29 (World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations) addresses worldwide harmonization of automotive regulations.

National Standing Committee on WP.29 matters was established under the Chairmanship of the Joint Secretary, MoSRT&H. This committee establishes national policy and guidelines on harmonization of automotive regulations. Considering ARAI’s role as an autonomous technical institute offering homologation and type approval services to the Indian as well as overseas automotive industry, the Technical Secretariat to WP.29 was entrusted to ARAI in 2003.

Subsidiary Technical Bodies and India

India has signed the 1998 Agreement, committing to participate in the formulation of Global Technical Regulations. To ensure that the views of the Indian automotive industry and test agencies are effectively transmitted with authenticated data, six mirror groups have been constituted in India. These six GR groups (subsidiary technical bodies of WP.29) are:

• GRPE (India): Working Party on Pollution and Energy
• GRSG (India): Working Party on General Safety Provisions
• GRRF (India): Working Party on Brakes and Running Gear
• GRE (India): Working Party on Lighting and Light-Signalling
• GRB (India): Working Party on Noise
• GRSP (India): Working Party on Passive Safety

The Indian working groups consist of experts from the industry, testing agencies and other organizations. They deliberate on various subjects and regulations within their respective domains and submit their recommendations to the national secretariat for further action.