In 2004, the UNECE
carried on with the updating of the international
agreements and conventions that represent the infrastructural
as well as regulatory bedrock of the pan-European
inland transport system and paid attention to their
implementation. Strategic Objectives have been adopted
which outline a number of areas of work, resources,
methods and measures to be taken into account for
future activities in this domain.
Amendments to the European Agreement on Main International
Traffic Arteries (AGR) were adopted in order to
improve environmental aspects of E roads and safety
in tunnels along the E road network. The European
Agreement Concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles
Engaged in International Road Transport (AETR) was
amended, introducing the digital tachograph to better
control the driving and rest periods of professional
drivers in international traffic.
In April 2004, the General Assembly adopted Resolution
58/289 on improving global road traffic safety,
which invites the World Health Organization, working
in close cooperation with the UN regional commissions,
to act as a coordinating body for road safety activities
within the United Nations. In considering its possible
contribution to the follow up to this resolution,
the UNECE Working Party on Road Traffic Safety was
in favour of opening participation in its work to
countries which are Contracting Parties to the Conventions
on Road Traffic and on Road Signs and Signals, of
1968, and which are not UNECE members, as well as
granting them voting rights on issues related to
these Conventions. A similar approach was also being
considered for all other UNECE transport subsidiary
bodies that administer legal instruments with Contracting
Parties outside the UNECE region.
The UNECE World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle
Regulations updated 59 existing UNECE Regulations
annexed to the 1958 Agreement and adopted five new
ones, which improved further the active and passive
safety of motor vehicles as well as their environmental
performance. In November 2004, the first global
technical regulation in the framework of the 1998
Agreement was adopted. An amendment to the 1997
Agreement entered into force, which is expected
to facilitate accession by EU countries to the Agreement.
The ECOSOC Committee of Experts on the Transport
of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized
System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals,
at its session in December 2004, approved the amendments
to the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous
Goods and to the GHS developed by its Sub-Committees
in 2003-2004. It also discussed possibilities of
developing the UN Recommendations into a global
and multimodal legally binding instrument.
Amendments to the various legal instruments regulating
the transport of dangerous goods by road (ADR),
rail (RID) and inland waterway (ADN) were adopted
for entry into force on 1 January 2005 and 1 January
2007. Consolidated versions of ADR and ADN, incorporating
amendments adopted in 2003-2004 for entry into force
on 1 January 2005 were published. These amendments
include new requirements to ensure a higher level
of security of the transport of dangerous goods
and prevention measures against terrorism.
Further progress was made in concluding a new Annex
8 to the Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier
Controls of Goods on border crossing procedures
for international road transport, and in defining
the future parameters for the computerization of
the procedure under the TIR Convention. A draft
agreement on customs procedures for rail transit
was finalized for adoption in 2005.
"Model" action plans and partnership
agreements, including benchmarks to measure the
competitiveness of international intermodal transport
services, were developed. Extensive modifications
of the European Agreement on Important International
Combined Transport Lines and Related Installations
(AGTC) to cover, in particular, important Euro-Asian
transport links, were agreed for formal adoption
in 2005.
Recommendations on Safety in Rail Tunnels were
adopted. Main ongoing developments included the
monitoring of border crossing in international rail
transport lines, aimed at simplifying and shortening
procedures; and demonstration runs of container
block trains between Europe and Asia in both directions,
together with the consideration of the role of railways
in the development of Euro-Asian transport links.
Resolutions were adopted on Technical requirements
for inland navigation vessels; the European Code
for Inland Waterways (CEVNI); Air pollution prevention
by diesel engines used in inland navigation vessels;
Minimum manning requirements and working and rest
hours of crews of vessels in inland navigation;
Common principles and technical requirements for
a pan-European River Information Service (RIS);
Recreational navigation network; and Guidelines
and criteria for vessel traffic services (VTS) on
inland waterways.
The Agreement on the International Carriage of
Perishable Foodstuffs and on the special equipment
to be used for such carriage (ATP) was updated and
a consolidated version published.
The UNECE TEM and TER Projects were in the final
stages of elaboration of their Master Plans. The
Plans aim at identifying bottlenecks, missing links
and other priority infrastructure needs in the road,
rail and combined transport networks of the participating
countries, and at designing a realistic investment
strategy to meet those needs. Over 450-proposed
priority projects of a total value of 88 billion
Euros are currently being evaluated and prioritized.
Substantial progress was achieved in the implementation
of the UN Development Account Project on Capacity
Building in developing land and land-cum-sea interregional
transport linkages. Focusing on Euro-Asian land
transport links, UNECE together with UNESCAP organized
two Expert Group Meetings, in Almaty (Kazakhstan)
in March and in Odessa (Ukraine) in November 2004,
at which Government representatives from 16 countries
in the Euro-Asian region agreed on the main road
and rail transport routes connecting Europe and
Asia to be considered for priority development;
approaches to developing the routes; identification
of main trans-shipment points along the routes;
completion of a Geographic Information System (GIS)
database; and identification of priority projects
along the selected routes.
Major challenges for 2005 will
be to further facilitate transport in the UNECE
region and at the same time increase its level of
efficiency, safety, security and protection of the
environment. To take up this challenge successfully,
the UNECE will have to strengthen its regulatory
role and continue to update the international agreements
and conventions on transport that it has developed
over the years. At the same time, the UNECE will
have to strengthen its assistance to some member
countries in reducing the infrastructural and regulatory
backlog in their transport systems.
It is expected that new amendments to legal instruments,
recommendations and regulations will be adopted
relating, inter alia, to the 1958 Agreement and
the 1998 Global Agreement, the AGTC Agreement, Agreements
concerning the transport of dangerous goods (ADR,
ADN, RID) and other instruments. A new cycle of
amendments to the UN Recommendations on the Transport
of Dangerous Goods and to the Globally Harmonized
System of Classification of Chemicals will start
in 2005. It is also expected that the text of a
draft new Protocol to the Convention on the Contract
for the International Carriage of Goods by Road
(CMR) will be finalized in 2005.
The fourteenth Revised Edition of the UN Recommendations
on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and the first
Revised Edition of the GHS will be prepared for
publication.
In the context of work on legal instruments, the
UNECE will also consider the development of transport
infrastructure in its region, focusing increasingly
on Euro-Asian transport links, and will actively
promote, in cooperation with UNESCAP, the implementation
of the Development Account Project on inter-regional
transport linkages and its continuation in future.
It is also expected that a recommendation on "model"
action plans and partnership agreements in intermodal
transport will be adopted.
With regard to border crossing facilitation, it
is expected that the future concept for international
e-TIR procedure will be agreed and that Annex 8
to the "International Harmonization Convention"
on efficient border-crossing procedures for road
transport will be completed and adopted.
A Combined Census of Motor Traffic and Inventory
of Standards and Parameters on E roads and, for
the first time, an E-Rail Traffic Census, will be
carried out in 2005.