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EU Enlargement - amended text

20 April 2004
On 1 May 2004, ten countries will join the European Union (EU) and its Community Transit System: Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
As a consequence, the TIR system will no longer be applicable for international transports between each of these ten countries and the fifteen existing EU member states.
The TIR system will, however, remain an important facilitation tool for international transports between the EU as a whole and thirty other Contracting Parties to the TIR Convention, where the TIR system is active.
The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has published a number of Questions and Answers on the enlargement issue to assist its members. The Q&A can be accessed from the IRU web site: http://www.iru.org/EUenlargement/QAWelcome.E.html.
In case the enlargements gives rise to other questions, you may wish to contact the UNECE TIR secretariat ([email protected]).