1968 Convention on Road Traffic

Article 34 BIS of the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, which came into force on 14 July 2022, ensures that countries that ratified the Vienna Convention, including EU countries, can allow driverless vehicles, outside the scope of experimentation, on their territory on condition that they comply with domestic technical regulations or international legal instruments and there is domestic legislation governing the operation of those systems. Its effect is thus limited to the territory of the country where the relevant domestic technical regulations and legislation governing operation apply.

The WP.1 Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is currently working on a new legal instrument or an adaptation of the 1968 Convention for purposes of automated vehicles.

Vehicle regulations

UNECE WP.29 (World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations) develops the regulatory framework that allows the market introduction of innovative vehicle technologies, while continuously improving global vehicle safety.

The WP.29 is developing technical regulations at the European or UNECE level on the technical requirements for vehicles. These regulations are necessary for the approval of these vehicles. According to the considerations repeated in Regulation 2022/1426, the European Commission “will continue the work to further develop and adopt by July 2024 the necessary requirements for the EU whole vehicle type approval of fully automated vehicles produced in unlimited series”.

Commission Implementing Regulation EU 2022/1426 is a regulation of the European Commission. That regulation lays down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards uniform procedures and technical specifications for the type-approval of the automated driving system (ADS) of fully automated vehicles. The scope of the regulation is limited to a predefined area or route and parking facilities.

The following regulations are also relevant in the context of type approvals:

• Regulation (EU) 2018/858 - Annex II: requirements for the purpose of EU type-approval of vehicles, systems, components or separate technical units
• Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 - type-approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers [...] as regards their general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users

Specifically for autonomous vehicles, the following regulations are relevant:

• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1426 - [...] as regards uniform procedures and technical specifications for the type-approval of the automated driving system (ADS) of fully automated vehicles
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2236 - [...] as regards the technical requirements for [...] fully automated vehicles produced in small series and special purpose vehicles, and as regards software updates

Article 59/1 of the Highway Code allows the federal mobility minister, within the framework of pilot projects, to grant derogations from the Highway Code provisions that are a federal competence. Moreover, a code of practice (in Dutch)(opens in new window) has been drawn up and an application form (in Dutch)(opens in new window) is available, which must be submitted to start the approval procedure.

The code of practice is intended to support manufacturers and/or testing organisations pushing for real-world testing of such technologies. It defines clear guidelines and recommendations to maintain safety during this test phase. It does not contain any actual legal rules but promotes responsible planning and testing.

Belgium’s current legislation does not yet permit the commercial roll-out of autonomous transport. The following roadmap shows what steps need to be taken to that end.

For the moment, Belgium does not have a framework in place for the technical requirements that autonomous or teleoperated vehicles must meet. The federal level is looking to the European Union to develop the necessary regulations for this.

The Department of Mobility and Public Works worked out a roadmap together with the FPS M&T to support the development of the regulatory framework for the commercial roll-out of autonomous transport. The dates mentioned in the table below are ambitious target dates, which means our department and the FPS M&T aspire to meet those targets. The roadmap contains several that are subject to change, e.g. owing to certain results during or after the study that reveal new issues, or delaying factors such as European regulations that intervene and shed new light on the case, substantive issues that need to be clarified, etc.

Roadmap for teleoperation and autonomous transport: