RID Committee of Experts' standing working group RID-17008-CE-GTP8 05/09/2017 Original: DE TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES OF OTIF AND TO REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS WHICH HAVE ACCEDED TO COTIF 8 th Session of the RID Committee of Experts standing working group (Utrecht, 20 to 24 November 2017) Tel. +41 (0) 31 359 10 10 Fax +41 (0) 31 359 10 11 info@otif.org Gryphenhübeliweg 30 CH - 3006 Berne/Bern
2 TIME OF THE MEETING 1. The Secretariat of OTIF is pleased to be able to invite you to the 8 th session of the RID Committee of Experts' standing working group, which will be hosted by the Ministry of Transport of the Netherlands from 20 to 24 November 2017 in Utrecht. The meeting will start at 10.00 on Monday, 20 November 2017 and will end at 12.30 on Friday, 24 November 2017. VENUE 2. The meeting will be held at: HOTEL The Railway Museum (Het Spoorwegmuseum) Maliebaanstation NL 3581 XW Utrecht Tel. +31 30 2306206 E-Mail: info@spoorwegmuseum.nl A map showing the location of the Railway Museum can be downloaded from https://goo.gl/maps/ktqfwxce82m2 The meeting room is marked Expo" on the map of the museum under https://www.spoorwegmuseum.nl/#!/het-museum/het-museum/plattegrond 3. The annex to our e-mail of 17 July 2017 included a list of hotels in the vicinity of the Railway Museum. This annex is again attached to this invitation. RULES OF PROCEDURE 4. In accordance with Article 22 2 of the RID Committee of Experts Rules of Procedure, the Rules of Procedure will be applied analogously at meetings of the working groups. 5. In connection with Article 5 2 of these Rules of Procedure, the RID Committee of Experts decided to invite the same organisations and associations to the meetings of the RID Committee of Experts as are invited to the RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting. 6. In accordance with Article 11 3 of the Rules of Procedure, official proposals must be submitted by no later than 6 October 2017. LANGUAGES 7. The meeting languages will be English, German and French. There will be consecutive interpretation into German and French and simultaneous interpretation into English. In order to ensure the broadest possible harmonisation of RID and SMGS Annex 2, there will also be simultaneous interpretation into Russian for the experts of SMGS Annex 2.
3 PROVISIONAL AGENDA 8. Based on the information and proposals available so far the Secretariat of OTIF proposes the following provisional agenda: ITEM 1:Approval of the agenda ITEM 2:Presence ITEM 3:Harmonisation with the 20 th edition of the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods ITEM 4:Interpretation of RID ITEM 5:Proposals to amend RID a) Pending issues b) New proposals ITEM 6:Harmonisation of RID and SMGS Annex 2 ITEM 7:Information from the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) ITEM 8:Any other business COMMENTS AND DOCUMENTATION 9. The following topics should be discussed under the various items of the agenda. Further topics may be added on the basis of documents still to be received. ITEM 2: Even though Article 20 (Quorum) of the Rules of Procedure does not apply to the meeting of this working group, it is requested that as many RID Contracting States as possible take part in order to obtain results that are likely to achieve majority support so that they can be adopted at the 55 th session of the RID Committee of Experts in May 2018. At the 6 th session, Mrs Caroline Bailleux (Belgium) and Mr Colin Bonnet (Switzerland) were elected as Chair and Vice-Chair of this standing working group until further notice. ITEM 3: After the RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting (Geneva, 19-29 September 2017), the Secretariat will produce a consolidated document with all the texts adopted by the RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting in 2016 and 2017. The Secretariat will also prepare a document containing the decisions of the 103 rd session of WP.15 (Geneva, 6 10 November 2017) which might have an impact on RID.
4 The following documents have also been submitted for this agenda item: OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/5 (Secretariat) OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/7 (Secretariat) 102 nd Session of WP.15 (Geneva, 8-12 May 2017) Corrigendum 2 to the 2017 edition of RID ITEM 4: So far the following documents have been submitted for this agenda item: OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/4 (Secretariat) Carriage of infectious substances of category B of UN number 3373 ITEM 5 a): So far the following documents have been submitted for this agenda item: OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/2 (UIC) OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/8 (Italy) OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/9 (Sweden) Proposed amendments to the safety obligations of the participants as regards the carriage of dangerous goods packed in limited quantities Checklists for the filling and emptying of liquefied gas tank-wagons Placarding and protective distance In addition, the following items from previous sessions of the standing working group are still open: Information from Italy on what the object was that caused the perforation of the tank in the Viareggio accident (see OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2013-A, paragraph 107); Proposals to revise Chapter 1.9 (see OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2015-A, paragraphs 18 to 29); Revised proposal from the Czech Republic to clarify the wording of 5.4.1.1.1 (j) (see OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2016-B, paragraphs 28 to 32). ITEM 5 b): So far the following documents have been submitted for this agenda item: OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/1 (Secretariat) OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/3 (Secretariat) Hazard identification number for UN numbers 3166 and 3171 Carriage of dangerous goods as hand luggage or registered luggage
5 ITEM 6: The following matter could be dealt with under this agenda item: Information on the status of harmonising SMGS Annex 2 with the 2017 edition of RID (see OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2016-B, paragraphs 38 to 41 and report of the Joint Meeting s spring session OTIF/RID/RC/2017-A ECE/TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/146, paragraphs 56 to 59). ITEM 7: ITEM 8: ERA will submit information on this standing agenda item in an informal document. The Member States are asked to make any requests concerning the content of the information from ERA via the Secretariat. So far the following document has been submitted for this agenda item: OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/6 (Secretariat) + INF.2 (Chairman of the RID/ATMF working group) Conclusions of the RID/ATMF working group The following matter can also be dealt with under this agenda item: Chapter 1.10 (Security provisions): protecting the railway infrastructure against terrorist attacks. The Secretariat of OTIF will distribute a meeting room document on this matter at the meeting. The Member States are asked to check beforehand what measures have already been taken in their countries in terms of passenger transport. 10. Documents with document reference number "OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/... are available on OTIF s website under http://otif.org/en/?page_id=264. REGISTRATION 11. Please fill out the attached official OTIF registration form and return it to the address shown on the form by 3 November 2017 at the latest. TRAVEL TICKETS 12. Those delegates who intend travelling by train are asked to contact the relevant railway networks directly to obtain any facilitated transport services. Yours faithfully (Jochen Conrad) Head of the RID Department
6 Annexes: Registration form (document RID-16008-CE-GTP8-def-registration form) Documents OTIF/RID/CE/GTP/2017/1 to /2017/7, /2017/9 and informal document INF.2 Hotel list cc: interested international organisations and associations, as an invitation experts on SMGS Annex 2 as an invitation railway undertakings, with the request to honour the above-mentioned free travel