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.

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 second session (10 December 2004), the reconfigured Committee adopted a set of amendments to the Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, concerning, inter alia, the inclusion of new provisions (e.g.: default classification of fireworks, packing of waste aerosols sent for disposal and recycling, alternatives to the waterbath test for aerosols dispensers, procedure for accident or incident reporting, marking provisions for environmentally hazardous substances) or revision of existing provisions (e.g.: list of dangerous goods, alignment of the classification criteria with those of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), transport of infectious substances, label for Division 5.2, loading and stacking provisions).

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", 1996 Edition (As amended 2005).

This fourteenth revised edition of the Recommendations takes account of all amendments which were adopted in December 2004 and consolidated in document ST/SG/AC.10/32/Add.1.

At its second session, the Committee adopted also amendments to the "Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Manual of Tests and Criteria" (ST/SG/AC.10/32/Add.2), which will be published as an amendment to the fourth revised edition of the Manual (ST/SG/AC.10/11/Rev.4/Amend.1), as well as amendments to the "Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals" (ST/SG/AC.10/32/Add.3) which will be reflected in the first revised edition published as document ST/SG/AC.10/30/Rev.1.

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.