UNITED

NATIONS	ST

Secretariat	Distr.

GENERAL

ST/SG/AC.10/1998/36

25 September 1998

Original: ENGLISH
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON THE

TRANSPORT OF DANGEROUS GOODS

(Twentieth session,

Geneva, 7-16 December l998,

agenda item 5 (b))

PROGRAMME OF WORK

Programme of work for the 1999/2000 biennium and related proposals

Establishment of a working group on harmonized documentation

Transmitted by the International Federation

of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA)

Introduction

The last meeting of the Sub-Committee in June/July proposed that documentation issues be included in the programme of work for the next biennium. FIATA welcomes this initiative.

The differences between the various documents used for dangerous goods transport do not contribute to safety nor facilitate trade and make it very difficult for the parties in the transport chain when the mode of transport changes during transit. This affects forwarders, carriers, hauliers and also consignors who may not be interested in the details of the carriage for example the "secondary" mode of transport. This is true both for import shipment by sea and air entering Europe as well as for transport in the opposite direction.

GE.98-

FIATA recognizes the substantive work of the European Committee of Paint, Printing Ink Artists Colours Manufacturers's Associations (CEPE) as well as the research earned out by the United Kingdom and Sweden in order to identify the important terms that should appear on the Dangerous Goods Declaration. FIATA believes that the IATA dangerous goods declaration is an example of a user-friendly document that the Committee might wish to consider as a practical solution.

The Sub-Committee has recognized that at European level the main practical problems arise where documentation requirements for land transport are not aligned with the Model Regulations while those for sea and air transport are. FIATA hopes that the various regulations will be harmonized as a result of the cooperative work during the next biennium.

Proposal

FIATA proposes therefore that a working group be established to consider this matter. This would require the formation of a balanced group of relevant contributors, which should not be too large. All modes of transport should be represented and FIATA suggests that the CEPE document ST/SG/AC.10/C.3/1998/54 should be the starting paper.

If there is agreement for this proposal FIATA will be pleased to arrange the meetings at its Headquarters in Zurich.

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