Skip to main content

About us

About the Working Party on the Transport of Perishable Foodstuffs (WP.11)

The work of UNECE on the transport of perishable foodstuffs goes back to 1948 when, with the food shortages after the Second World War, it was decided to set up a Working Party to look into the nature and extent of international traffic in perishable foodstuffs, to ascertain operating difficulties and to study transport requirements for subsequent years.


The Working Party on the Transport of Perishable Foodstuffs still exists today and is commonly known as WP.11.  It meets once a year in Geneva, usually in October or November.

The primary functions of WP.11 are to develop and update the Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Special Equipment to be Used for such Carriage (ATP) (see link in the left menu), concluded in Geneva in 1970, and to promote the facilitation of international transport of perishable foodstuffs by harmonizing the relevant regulations and rules and the administrative procedures and documentation requirements to which this refrigerated transport is subject.


49 countries are parties to the ATP including three, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, from outside the UNECE region.