UNITED

NATIONS	E

Economic and Social

Council

Distr.

GENERAL

TRANS/1999/1/Add.2

25 November 1998

Original: ENGLISH

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

INLAND TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

(Sixty-first session, 8-11 February 1999)

NOTES ON THE PROVISIONAL AGENDA AND SUGGESTED TIMETABLE

FOR THE COMMITTEE'S SIXTY-FIRST SESSION

Note by the secretariat

Addendum 2

16.	TRANSPORT OF DANGEROUS GOODS

(a)	Report of work on the establishment and updating of Recommendations for the Transport of Dangerous Goods within the framework of the Economic and Social Council's Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

The Committee may wish to note that the Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods will meet from 6 to 17 December 1998 to consider, inter alia, the work of its Sub-Committee over the biennium 1997-1998. The Committee of Experts is expected to finalize the second step of the reformatting of its Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods into the "Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods" and prepare a draft resolution for the Economic and Social Council's 1999 substantive session inviting Governments and international organizations to implement these Model Regulations.

GE.98-

(b)	Activities of the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

The report of the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods on its sixty-fourth session has been circulated for consideration and approval by the Committee (TRANS/WP.15/153), and the report on its sixty-fifth session will be circulated soon.

( i )	Work of the RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting	TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/72

TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/74	and -/Add.1-3

The RID/ADR Joint Meeting held two sessions (23-27 March 1998 and 15-25 September 1998) which were principally dedicated to the restructuring of RID and ADR. Good progress has been done on Parts 1, 2, 4 and 6 of the draft restructured RID/ADR, but work on other Parts will have to be pursued next year.

The Committee may wish to note that the Joint Meeting also prepared new draft amendments for entry into force on 1 January 2001, concerning, in particular, the carriage of dangerous goods in fibre reinforced plastics tanks.

(ii)	European Agreement concerning	TRANS/WP.15/153

the International Carriage of	TRANS/WP.15/155

Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR)

The Committee may wish to note that, following accession by the Republic of Moldova, there are now 34 Contracting Parties to ADR. The Protocol amending articles 1(a), 14(1) and 14(3) (b) of ADR, adopted by the Conference of the Contracting Parties on 28 October 1993, has still not entered into force since this would require the deposit of the necessary legal instruments by all the Contracting Parties. Twenty-three Contracting Parties have done so to date, and the Committee may wish to urge the remaining Contracting Parties ( Belarus , Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Romania, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Yugoslavia) to take the necessary steps to allow the Protocol to come into force.

The Working Party noted that Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan had, on 8 September 1998, concluded a multilateral Agreement concerning international transport with a view to the development of the Europe-Caucasus- Asia transport corridor, and that one of its technical annexes dealt with international road transport of goods and subjected the transport of dangerous goods to the issuance of a special permit by each country.

The Working Party invited those countries signatories to the multilateral agreement which are not yet Parties to the ADR to accede to it, so as to ensure safe conditions of transport of dangerous goods without impeding trade by administration procedures which would not be justified under ADR.

In this context, several delegations complained that, despite the recommendation of the Committee at its last session (ECE/TRANS/125, para. 112), the Federation of Russia, which became Party to the ADR in 1994, is still subjecting international transport of dangerous goods to special authorizations issued by local administrations, and that the situation has escalated to the point of constituting a serious obstacle to trade with the Russian Federation and with other countries when transit through the territory of the Russian Federation is necessary. The Working Party, regarding such practices as contrary to ADR, reiterated its concern.

With regard to the follow-up to the Regional Conference on Transport and the Environment, the Working Party considered that training activities undertaken in the context of Chapter VI of the Programme of Joint Action should first and foremost be directed at extending the geographical scope of the implementation of ADR, i.e. facilitating accession to ADR by the countries of Central and Eastern Europe with geographical links with other countries which are already Contracting Parties.

At its May session, the Working Party adopted new amendments to ADR (TRANS/WP.15/153, annex 2) which, combined with those prepared by the secretariat on the basis of the decisions of the Working Party in 1996 and 1997 (TRANS/WP.15/151), form the set of amendments to ADR now legally deemed accepted and entering into force on 1 January 1999. The secretariat has prepared a revised consolidated edition of ADR on this basis (ECE/TRANS/130, Vols. I and II), already available in English and French.

At its November session, the Working Party adopted several new draft amendments expected to enter into force in 2001.

(iii)	European Provisions concerning the	TRANS/WP.15/AC.2/2

International Carriage of Dangerous

Goods by Inland Waterways (ADN)

The meeting of Experts on the European Provisions concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (ADN) met from 19 to 21 January 1998 and adopted a few amendments to the European Provisions. The Meeting of Experts will meet again from 18 to 22 January 1999 for considering proposed new amendments as well as the necessary changes which will have to be made to these provisions when they are annexed to the future European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways. Its report will be circulated under the symbol TRANS/WP.15/AC.2/4.

(c)	Elaboration of a Draft Agreement	TRANS/AC.6/12 and Add.1

concerning the International	TRANS/AC.6/14, Corr.1 and Add.1

Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland	TRANS/AC.6/16, Add.1 and Add.2

Waterways (ADN)

The ad hoc Working Group on the elaboration of a Draft Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways met three times in 1998 (2-4 February, 2-5 June and 12-14 October). A complete draft text for the Agreement itself may be found in TRANS/AC.6/16/Add.1 but certain articles are still subject to further discussion. The main annex (Annex 1- Regulations for the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways) to the Agreement should be the consolidated version published as document TRANS/WP.15/148 as amended by the Meeting of Experts on the European Provisions concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways of the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP.15/AC.2) (see item 16 (b) (iii)).

Draft Annex 2 (Requirements and procedures applicable to inspections, issued of certificates of approval, derogations, special authorizations, classification societies and checks) is contained in TRANS/AC.6/16/Add.2.

Annex 3 (General transitional provisions) and Annex 4 (Supplementary transitional provisions applicable on specific inland waterways) are still under consideration.

The ad hoc Working Group plans to finalize its work in 1999 so that the draft Agreement can be adopted by a Diplomatic Conference in 2000, as agreed by the Committee (ECE/TRANS/125, para. 121).

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