On 3 March 2015 Belarus will become a Contracting Party to the 1998 Agreement on Global Vehicle Regulations.
The 1998 Agreement is the legal framework for the development of global technical regulations for vehicles and their components, with the aim of increasing their active and passive safety, reducing emissions and improving security (anti-theft) performance.
The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) is the body that administers the 1998 Agreement. To date, sixteen global technical regulations have been adopted in the framework of the 1998 Agreement. They address inter alia motorcycle brake systems, head restraints, electronic stability control systems, pedestrian safety and tires.
Areas of current work on global technical regulations include electric vehicles, emission tests and quiet road transport vehicles.
The accession of Belarus will bring the total number of Contracting Parties to the 1998 Agreement to 35. At present, Contracting Parties include Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russian Federation, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, USA and many other European States.
For more information, please visit: http://www.unece.org/trans/main/welcwp29.html