Customs Convention on the international transport of goods under cover of TIR carnets (TIR Convention)

SUMMARY OF:

Decision 2009/477/EC publishing the text of the Customs Convention on the international transport of goods under cover of TIR carnets

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DECISION?

The TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers, International Road Transport) System allows goods to be transported with minimum intervention by customs administrations en route and provides relatively simple access to the required guarantees.
The decision consolidates the text of the Customs Convention on the international transport of goods covered by TIR carnets, incorporating all the amendments to the original TIR Convention since its publishing in 1975.

KEY POINTS

Every European Union (EU) Member State, and the EU itself, is a contracting party to the 1975 TIR Convention. The EU is regarded as a single territory for TIR purposes.

The TIR may only be used in the EU where the movement of goods either starts or ends in a non-EU country, or where an intra-EU movement of goods goes via a non-EU country, and is:

by road vehicle, combination of vehicles or container, with no intermediate reloading;
across one or more national borders between the customs office of departure and the customs office of destination;
at least partly by road (the TIR system can be suspended for the duration of the non-road leg);
guaranteed by authorised associations; and
covered by an official TIR carnet.

Principles

Goods carried under the TIR procedure:

must not be subject to import or export duties and tax payments at customs offices en route;
should not normally be examined by customs offices en route if they are in sealed vehicles or containers;
may, however, be examined in exceptional cases to prevent abuses, particularly where customs authorities suspect irregularity.

TIR carnets

The customs authorities or other competent authorities authorise associations to issue TIR carnets and to act as guarantors. The associations must have:

been established for at least a year in the country of issue;
proof of sound financial standing and capability to fulfil obligations;
committed no serious or repeated offences against customs or tax legislation.

A TIR carnet may only be issued to individuals with:

proven experience or capability of engaging in regular international transport;
sound financial standing;
no serious or repeated offences against customs or tax legislation;
proven knowledge of the TIR Convention.

Transporting goods under a TIR carnet

Goods must only be transported in approved vehicles or containers which meet construction and equipment requirements. Parties may refuse to recognise the validity of the approval of road vehicles or containers which do not meet these conditions, but must avoid delaying traffic for minor defects which do not involve any risk of smuggling.

Under the TIR procedure:

no special customs documents are required for the temporary importation of a road vehicle or container;
a rectangular plate inscribed ‘TIR’ must be displayed front and rear;
a single TIR carnet is made out for each vehicle or container (or for a combination loaded on to a single road vehicle or on to a combination of vehicles);
carnets are valid for one journey only;
a TIR transport may involve up to eight customs offices of departure and destination;
the customs authorities of the country of departure must satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of the goods manifest;
at customs offices en route and at the destination, the road vehicle (and its load) must be produced with its TIR carnet for control purposes;
customs offices must normally accept intact seals applied by other contracting parties, but may add their own seals.

Customs authorities must not, except in special cases, require vehicles to be:

escorted at the carriers’ expense on the territory of their country; or
examined en route.

The convention lays out procedures in the event that the customs seals are broken en route or any goods are destroyed or damaged without breaking the seals.

Special conditions apply to transporting heavy or bulky goods.

Irregularities

For any breach of the convention:

the offender is liable to penalties prescribed by the law of the country where the offence is committed;
each contracting party has the right to exclude, temporarily or permanently, any person guilty of a serious offence or of repeated offences against the customs laws applicable to the international goods transport.

FROM WHEN DOES THE DECISION APPLY?

The decision has applied since 26 June 2009.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

What we do – TIR (International Road Transport Union)
TIR (transports internationaux routiers, international road transport) (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Decision 2009/477/EC of 28 May 2009 publishing in consolidated form the text of the Customs Convention on the international transport of goods under cover of TIR carnets (TIR Convention) of 14 November 1975 as amended since that date (OJ L 165, 26.6.2009, pp. 1–94).

Successive amendments to Decision 2009/477/EC have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.