Switzerland, Geneva 

This was held on January 10th 2007 at the Geneva International Conference Centre.  This event, organized by International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has taken more than two years in planning.  However the level of interest and importance can be measured by the attendance which was approximately 100, nearly twice the numbers that were originally planned for.  Not unexpectedly, the delegates were predominantly from Europe but there was good representation from around the world.  The Roundtable was directed at both natural gas and hydrogen and the delegates were approximately equally divided between the two.  Similarly there were approximately equal numbers with interests in vehicles and infrastructure.

The Roundtable was opened by the Secretary General of ISO, Alan Bryden.  The morning session was on perspectives of harmonization with presenters from United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, John Lyon, President of IANGV, Peter Boisen, Chairman of ENGVA, Jeff Seisler, Executive Director of ENGVA and 3 speakers on hydrogen.  In the afternoon, delegates went to one of two panel sessions, the automotive or energy and infrastructure.

The reports of the panel sessions indicate some of the areas in which follow up action is required.  It is probably sufficient to say at present that with so many organizations and people involved in standards and regulations, the task of harmonizing will be long and complicated.  However, the mere fact of having the event has probably resulted in some harmonization because of the opportunities that delegates had to meet others and to discuss a wide range of issues.

One of the more important inputs to the Roundtable was the Gap Analysis of International NGV Standards and Regulations, undertaken by Dr Hien Ly, which indicates the need for NGV standards in certain areas, particularly LNG.  Another input was the results of a survey (promoted in NGV Global) which amongst other things showed support for some form of coordination group whose job would be to minimize the opportunities for disharmony between standards and regulations.

The presentations and the reports of the panel sessions will be available shortly for downloading from the ISO web site.

A report on the Roundtable was to GRPE made by ISO delegate Francois Abram and ISO TC 197 Chair Randy Dey on 11 Jan. this was well received and the GRPE Chair requested a full report related to the outcomes.  (GRPE is the UNECE group which is responsible for formulation of global motor vehicle regulations and is effectively one of the sponsors for the Roundtable.)