The protection of life, health and the environment has top priority when transporting dangerous goods. In order to ensure this protection, a number of regulations have been issued for each mode of transport. Whether on roads, at sea or by rail – inland transport in the EU is regulated in separate agreements. The following regulations concerning the transport of dangerous goods have to be observed in the EU:

ADR – the transport of dangerous goods by road

The European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (abbreviation ADR from “Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route”) was concluded in Geneva in 1957 under the guidance of UNECE. Following the agreement between the contracting states concluded on 13th May 2019, the term “European” will be left out as of 1st January 2021. Today, all the EU countries are also ADR signatories; the ADR is legally valid through an EU regulation. The agreement is currently in force in a total of 52 signatory states.

Many other countries, such as China, have adopted their own transport regulations that relate to ADR.

RID – the transport of dangerous goods by rail

The “Règlement concernant le transport international ferroviaire de marchandises Dangereuses (RID)” can be found in Appendix C of the COTIF (Convention relative aux transports internationaux ferroviaires). It regulates the international transportation of dangerous goods by rail. RID itself consists of only a few articles, but the extensive technical annex is of particular importance. The content of the regulations largely corresponds to the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). The annex to RID is also an annex to the EU Directive 96/49/EC (framework directive for the transport of dangerous goods by rail).

ADN – the transport of dangerous goods by inland waterways

The European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (abbreviation ADN from “Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises dangereuses par voie de navigation intérieure”) applies to the transport by inland waterways, with special contracts for the Rhine (ADN-R) and Danube (ADN-D). The ADN includes special regulations for the transport by inland waterways with regard to the transport of dangerous goods. Its first version was approved on 26th May 2000 under the leadership of UNECE. The agreement contains regulations in particular for the classification, packaging, labelling and documentation relating to the transport of dangerous goods, for the construction, equipment and approval of ships and for handling during transport.