About the Agreement

• What Is an Implementing Agreement?
• Relation of Implementing Agreements to the IEA
•  What Is the IEA?
• Who Are the Participants?
• The Legal Framework of an Implementing Agreement
• Annexes

The International Energy Agency's Implementing Agreement for Cooperation on Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technologies and Programs (IA-HEV) began in 1994. At the outset there were four operational task forces:

• EV Information Exchange,
• Energy and Environmental Impacts of EVs,
• EV Infrastructure, and
• Batteries and Supercapacitors.

At the beginning, the name was the "Electric Vehicle Agreement," and work on hybrid vehicles was only a minor part of its activities. Because of the rapid progress in hybrid technologies, a separate task force was set up, and the agreement's name was formally changed to include hybrid vehicles. The Executive Committee provided guidance to these task forces, and it also published a brochure during the first year and annual reports thereafter, a few of which are available online.

What Is an Implementing Agreement?

An implementing agreement is a working group of International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries that have a common interest in a particular technology. Countries that are not members of the IEA can also join. The member governments can either participate themselves or designate another organization in their country to represent them. An implementing agreement sets up a number of task forces, called "annexes" in the terms of the agreement, which work on particular topics within the overall subject of the Agreement. During its first phase (1994-1999), the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Agreement had task forces on

• Information Exchange (Annex I),
• The Energy and Environmental Impact of Electric Vehicles (Annex II),
• EV Infrastructure (Annex IV), and
• Exploratory Research in Batteries and Supercapacitors (Annex V).

An Annex on Hybrid Vehicles (Annex VII) was started in 1999 and has continued into the third phase.

Relation of Implementing Agreements to the IEA

Implementing agreements create or formalize working groups of IEA members. These groups operate under the auspices of the IEA but do not formally represent the IEA in any way. Hence, the views presented on web sites or reports of implementing agreements do not necessarily reflect the views of the IEA or the governments represented therein.

What Is the IEA?

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is an autonomous body established in November 1974 within the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The IEA headquarters are in Paris, France, and it carries out a comprehensive program of energy cooperation among 25 of the OECD's 30 member countries. At its inception, the work of the IEA concentrated on issues related to oil, but since that time the Agency has broadened its work to include virtually all energy issues. An important objective of the IEA is to encourage the increased deployment of renewable energies and to collaborate on research and development in this area.

Who Are the Participants?

The countries and organizations participating in Phase III of IA-HEV are as follows:

Currently the status of Finland and Japan is inactive.

The Legal Framework of an Implementing Agreement

The official members of an implementing agreement, called "contracting parties" are the governments of IEA member countries and also governments of some countries that are not members of the IEA. In most cases, the ambassador in Paris of a participating country signs the implementing agreement on behalf of his or her government. Participating countries then designate an organization, which may be a government department or any other appropriate organization (research organizations, parastatal organizations, universities, private companies), to represent them on the Executive Committee of the implementing agreement. The Executive Committee

• Directs the establishment of new task forces (annexes) and the closing down of old ones,
• Approves the work plans and budgets of the annexes,
• Formulates a strategy for the implementing agreement,
• Decides policies and regulations for the implementing agreement as a whole, and
• Generally gives overall direction to the agreement.

Both an implementing agreement and its annexes are set up for a fixed time period in the first instance, usually five years. At the end of this period, a formal decision is made either to continue the work for a following phase or to end it.

The annexes do the actual work of the implementing agreement. Participation in an annex is voluntary; the only provisions are that member countries must participate in at least one annex and that annexes must have a minimum number of two participating countries. Before an annex becomes operational, a work plan consisting of several subtasks and a budget are submitted to the Executive Committee for approval. Once approved, the annex executes its work plan under the leadership of an "operating agent" and "subtask leaders." The annexes generally work in the following areas:

• Technology assessment (state-of-the-art studies, environmental and social impact studies, collection of statistical and other information about the technology)
• Research and government program exchange of information (collection of information about research and government programs in a specific technology in participating countries)
• Dissemination of information about the technology, and
• International coordination of testing methods, technical standards, etc.

Implementing agreements are self-contained in the sense that they raise the financial resources required for their work by themselves, and they are able to change the official text of their agreements by a unanimous vote of the Executive Committee.

Annexes

The Executive Committee has defined a number of task areas related to specific aspects of technology development and deployment. These task areas are called "Annexes."