DANGEROUS GOODS AGREEMENT ENTERS INTO FORCE
Geneva, 12 February 2008 -- On 31 January 2008, Germany ratified the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (ADN), bringing the number of Contracting Parties to seven. As a result, the ADN will enter into force one month later on 29 February 2008.
The ADN was established for the purposes of increasing the safety of the international carriage of dangerous goods by inland waterways and also for preventing any pollution resulting from accidents or incidents during such carriage, whilst facilitating international transport and trade.
The annexed Regulations contain technical requirements for the international carriage of dangerous substances and articles in packages and in bulk on board inland navigation vessels and tank vessels, as well as uniform provisions concerning the construction and operation of such vessels. They also establish international requirements and procedures for inspections, issuance of certificates of approval, recognition of classification societies, monitoring, and training and examination of experts.
The ADN was adopted on 25 May 2000 in Geneva at a Diplomatic Conference organized jointly by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Central Commission for the Navigation on the Rhine (CCNR).
The seven Contracting Parties are Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the Russian Federation. Other States ( Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Moldova and Slovakia) have signed the Agreement and are expected to ratify it in the near future.
Pending the entry into force of the ADN, the annexed Regulations have been regularly updated by a Joint UNECE/CCNR Meeting of Experts and have been recommended for application through national legislation. The current version of the Regulations is the 2007 version (United Nations publication Sales No.E/F/R.06.VIII.2) and a 2009 version is under preparation.
In accordance with the Agreement, the annexed Regulations will become applicable one year after the entry into force of the ADN, i.e. on 28 February 2009.
In order to prepare themselves for the effective application of the Regulations, the Contracting Parties will meet in Geneva on 19-20 June 2008 for the first session of the “ADN Administrative Committee”. This follows a session of the Joint UNECE/CCNR Meeting of Experts on 17-18 June, which will become the “ADN Safety Committee”.
Participation in the work of the Administrative Committee as a voting member and in the legal procedure of amending the ADN is strictly restricted to Contracting Parties. Therefore all States with international inland waterway transport are encouraged to ratify or accede to the ADN in order to not only enjoy the benefits it can bring in terms of enhanced safety and environmental protection and trade facilitation, but also to exert their rights with respect to the evolution of the Regulations. This is of particular importance for member States of the European Union, since the European Parliament and the Council of the EU have recently decided that those States with inland waterways linked, by inland waterways, to waterways of other member States will have to apply the regulations annexed to ADN as from 1 July 2009 and at the latest by 1 July 2011 whether or not they are Parties to the ADN.
For more information, see http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/danger.htm or contact:
Eva Molnar, Director
or
Olivier Kervella, Chief, Dangerous Goods and Special Cargoes Section
UNECE Transport Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 2456
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 0039
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/TRANS/08/P02