The Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods are addressed to governments and to the international organizations concerned with safety in the transport of dangerous goods.

The first version, prepared by the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, was published in 1956 (ST/ECA/43-E/CN.2/170).

In response to developments in technology and the changing needs of users, they have been regularly amended and updated at succeeding sessions of the Committee of Experts pursuant to Resolution 645 G (XXIII) of 26 April 1957 of the Economic and Social Council and subsequent resolutions.

At its nineteenth session (2-10 December 1996), the Committee adopted a first version of Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, which were annexed to the tenth revised edition of the Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. This was done to facilitate the direct integration of the Model Regulations into all modal, national and international regulations and thereby enhance harmonization, facilitate regular up-dating of all legal instruments concerned, and result in overall considerable resource savings for the Governments of the Member States, the United Nations, the specialized agencies and other international organizations.

At its twentieth session (7-16 December 1998) and twenty-first session (4-13 December 2000), the Committee adopted various amendments to the Model Regulations and new provisions including, in particular, packing and tank instructions for individual substances, gases and articles and additional provisions for the transport of radioactive material.

By resolution 1999/65 of 26 October 1999, the Economic and Social Council extended the mandate of the Committee to the global harmonization of the various systems of classification and labelling of chemicals which are applicable under various regulations regimes, e.g.: transport; workplace safety; consumer protection; environment protection, etc.

The Committee was reconfigured and renamed "Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals", supported with one sub-committee specialized in transport of dangerous goods and another one addressing the global harmonization of classification and labelling of chemicals.

At its first session (11-12 December 2002), the reconfigured Committee adopted a set of amendments to the Modal Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, concerning, inter alia, the inclusion of new provisions (e.g.: transport of dangerous goods security; classification of substances hazardous to the aquatic environment, toxic by inhalation substances; packing instructions for refrigerated liquefied gases; transport of solid substances in bulk containers; approval systems for periodic inspection and testing of pressure receptacles) or revision of existing provisions (e.g.: list of dangerous goods, transport of infectious substances, medical wastes and genetically modified microorganisms, etc.).

Close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also continued, and the provisions concerning the transport of radioactive material have been revised to align with the IAEA "Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material", as revised and amended in 2003.

This thirteenth revised edition of the Recommendations takes account of all amendments which were adopted in December 2002 and consolidated in document ST/SG/AC.10/29/Add.1.

At its first session, the Committee adopted also amendments to the "Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Manual of Tests and Criteria" (ST/SG/AC.10/29/Add.2), which will be reflected in the fourth revised edition of the Manual (ST/SG/AC.10/11/Rev.4), as well as the "Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals" which will be published as document ST/SG/AC.10/30.

This publication has been prepared by the secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) which provides secretariat services to the Economic and Social Council's Committee of Experts.