TIR Treaty
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The Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) is a multilateral treaty that was concluded at
Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
on 14 November 1975 to simplify and harmonise the administrative formalities of international road transport. (TIR stands for "Transports Internationaux Routiers" or "International Road Transports".) The 1975 convention replaced the TIR Convention of 1959, which itself replaced the 1949 TIR Agreement between a number of European countries. The conventions were adopted under the auspices of the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and i ...
(UNECE). As of December 2020, there are 77 parties to the Convention, including 76 states and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. The TIR Convention establishes an international customs transit system with maximum facility to move goods: * in sealed vehicles or
containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
; * from a customs office of departure in one country to a customs office of destination in another country; * without requiring extensive and time-consuming border checks at intermediate borders; * while, at the same time, providing customs authorities with the required security and guarantees. The TIR system not only covers customs transit by road but a combination is possible with other
modes of transport Mode of transport is a term used to distinguish between different ways of transportation or transporting people or goods. The different modes of transport are air, water, and land transport, which includes rails or railways, road and off-road t ...
(e.g., rail, inland waterway, and even
maritime transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people ( passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...
), as long as at least one part of the total transport is made by road. To date, more than 33,000 international transport operators had been authorised (by their respective competent national authorities) to access the TIR system, using around 1.5 million TIR
carnet A carnet may refer to: in international law: *A legal authorisation, usually in the context of document allowing the importation of certain goods to countries without paying customs duty. Three types exist: ** ATA Carnet, for temporary importation ...
s per year. In light of the expected increase in world trade, further enlargement of its geographical scope and the forthcoming introduction of an electronic TIR system (so-called "eTIR-system"), it is expected that the TIR system will continue to remain the only truly global customs transit system. Due to the large blue-and-white TIR plates carried by vehicles using the TIR convention, the word "TIR" entered many languages, such as Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian or Turkish, as a
neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
, becoming the default generic name of a large lorry. Saudi Arabia acceded to the convention on 17 May 2018, and the convention entered into force for Saudi Arabia on 17 November 2018. Egypt acceded to the convention on 16 December 2020, and entered into force in Egypt on 16 June 2021. With the accession of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the TIR Convention had seventy-seven Contracting Parties.


TIR procedures

Lorriers making use of the TIR procedure must first obtain an internationally harmonised customs document, referred to as a TIR carnet. TIR carnets are issued by national road transport associations. This customs document is valid internationally and as well as describing the goods, their shipper and their destination, represents a financial guarantee. When a lorry arrives at a border customs post it need not pay import duties and taxes on goods at that time. Instead the payments are suspended. If the vehicle transits the country without delivering any goods, no taxes are due. If it fails to leave the country with all the goods, then the taxes are billed to the importer and the financial guarantee backstops the importer's obligation to pay the taxes. TIR transits are carried out in bond, i.e. the lorry must be sealed as well as bearing the carnet. The security payment system is administered by the
International Road Transport Union The International Road Transport Union (IRU) is the global road transport organization, which upholds the interests of bus, coach, taxi and truck operators to ensure economic growth and prosperity via the sustainable mobility of people and good ...
(IRU). The TIR procedure is mostly used with Eastern European countries that are not in the EU (e.g. Russia and Ukraine), Turkey, and parts of the Near East. Since the formation of the European single market, the TIR procedure has become unnecessary for intra-EU goods transport. As a result of
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...
, TIR carnets could become part of the solution to merchandise traffic between Great Britain and other European countries, or for goods to transit intra-EU, for example between Ireland and mainland Europe.


See also

*
CMR Convention The CMR Convention (full title Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road) is a United Nations convention that was signed in Geneva on 19 May 1956. It relates to various legal issues concerning transportation of c ...
* ATA Carnet *
Carnet de Passages en Douane The Carnet de Passages en Douane is a customs document that identifies a traveller's motor vehicle or other valuable equipment or baggage. It is required in order to take a motor vehicle into a significant number of countries around the world. The ...


References


External links


Signatories and ratifications


- UNECE {{Authority control United Nations Economic Commission for Europe treaties Transport treaties Customs treaties Treaties concluded in 1975 International road transport Treaties entered into force in 1978 Treaties of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Treaties of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania Treaties of Algeria Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Armenia Treaties of Austria Treaties of Azerbaijan Treaties of Belarus Treaties of Belgium Treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina Treaties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Treaties of the People's Republic of China Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of Canada Treaties of Chile Treaties of Croatia Treaties of Czechoslovakia Treaties of the Czech Republic Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Egypt Treaties of Estonia Treaties entered into by the European Union Treaties of Finland Treaties of France Treaties of West Germany Treaties of East Germany Treaties of Greece Treaties of the Hungarian People's Republic Treaties of India Treaties of Indonesia Treaties of Iran Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Israel Treaties of Italy Treaties of Jordan Treaties of Kazakhstan Treaties of Kuwait Treaties of Kyrgyzstan Treaties of Latvia Treaties of Lebanon Treaties of Liberia Treaties of Lithuania Treaties of Luxembourg Treaties of Malta Treaties of Mongolia Treaties of Montenegro Treaties of Morocco Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of Norway Treaties of Oman Treaties of Pakistan Treaties of the Polish People's Republic Treaties of Portugal Treaties of South Korea Treaties of Moldova Treaties of the Socialist Republic of Romania Treaties of the Soviet Union Treaties of Serbia and Montenegro Treaties of Yugoslavia Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of Spain Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Syria Treaties of Tajikistan Treaties of North Macedonia Treaties of Tunisia Treaties of Turkey Treaties of Turkmenistan Treaties of Ukraine Treaties of the United Arab Emirates Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of the United States Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of Uzbekistan Treaties of Georgia (country) 1975 in Switzerland Treaties extended to Guernsey Treaties extended to Jersey Treaties extended to Gibraltar Treaties extended to the Isle of Man Treaties extended to the Faroe Islands Treaties extended to Greenland Treaties extended to Aruba Treaties extended to the Netherlands Antilles 1975 in transport Treaties extended to West Berlin sk:Colný dohovor o medzinárodnej preprave tovaru na poklade karnetov TIR