Cairo, Egypt
Monday’s joint meeting of the IANGV
and ENGVA Technical Committees here in Cairo on Monday saw standards
dominate discussion ahead of the upcoming Geneva Roundtable on the Harmonisation of Transport Fuel Standards
to be held in Geneva on 10 January. Two issues in particular received
attention, the merits of harmonising current irregularities between UN
governed ECE 110 (which must be adopted by UN Working Party Group 29
signatories as law) and ISO standards, and continuing trends in some
countries to adopt standards which don’t meet either criteria.
Evidence is emerging that some countries in the early stages of
industry development are adopting locally developed or non ISO
standards in an effort to cut costs, at the same time introducing
significant safety concerns. Delegates resolved that the IANGV would
produce a Position Paper to serve as a guideline for countries in the
early or redevelopment stages, to encourage development of ISO
standards. Signatories to ECE 110 meanwhile must adopt standards
applying under this regulation.
Aside from the irregularities between ECE 110 and ISO standards, current gaps in both standards have been identified via a Gap Analysis,
being prepared by Australian based consultant, Dr Hien Ly, and
currently in it’s second draft stage. Copies of the second draft can be
made available to stakeholders in a position to offer qualified
comments on the draft.
ENGVA Technical Committee Chair, Flavio Mariani, also outlined
initiatives currently under way to resolve issues with on board safety
devices, particularly cylinder pressure relief devices (PRDs) following
recent incidents in Europe. Mariani says the issues have been
identified and that the ENGVA Technical Committee is drafting
guidelines on the recommended locations and number of PRDs on an
installation as well as addressing recommendations on the location of
on board compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders.
The next IANGV Technical Committee Meeting will again be held jointly with the ENGVA Technical Committee at ENGVA’s Annual Conference in Strasbourg, France next June (meeting date to be advised).
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