The Annual meeting of the OECD tractor codes was held virtually and gathered almost 100 participants

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The Annual meeting of the OECD tractor codes took place last 23 and 24 February 2021. This was the opportunity to provide information on the OECD activities to stakeholders such as Member States representatives, the European Commission, CEMA and others. Participants exchanged virtually on topics such as:

  • The promotion of smart agriculture in Japan (agricultural vehicles using new technologies) and description of the safety guidelines in place;
  • The impact of the plastic properties of a material when modelling the material for ROPS virtual tests;
  • The lateral stability of narrow-track tractors, with an analysis on various methods;
  • Quad bikes: accidents reported due to roll-over, and suggestions to reduce these accidents. 
  • The impact of OCDE Codes on tractor trade, through a study led within the University of Nebraska, which concluded that the volume is significantly higher when trading countries are OECD Tractor Codes members;
  • The update of performance requirements described in OECD Code 2 to take into account electric tractors;
  • The description of the “Farm vehicle V2X” project through a collaboration between UTAC CERAM and OECD. This project is intended to improve communication between vehicles to avoid accidents when one of the vehicles is turning.

Other updates

On its side, the European Commission informed of the revision of the Regulation on agricultural vehicles, to take into account missing categories, potential increase of the number of sub-categories of vehicles and consideration of autonomous vehicles.

The OECD representatives informed also officially on their work on accidents database.