Report of the Administrative Committee for the Tir Convention 1975 on Its Seventy-Seventh Session (February 2022): ac.2, in Line with Annex 11, Article 5, Adopted the Etir Concepts and the Etir Functional Specifications, Including the Amendments Adopted by Tib at Its First Session. This Provides a Complete Legal and Technical Basis for Those Countries that Are Willing to Implement the Etir Procedure

ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/157No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Decision of the Other United Nations Bodies.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What does this mandate say?

66 operative paragraphs

I.Attendance 1 3

II.Adoption of the agenda (agenda item 1) 2 3

III.Election of officers (agenda item 2) 3 3

IV.Status of the TIR Convention, 1975 (agenda item 3) 4–5 3

V.Activities and administration of the TIR Executive Board (agenda item 4) 6–19 4

A.Activities of the TIR Executive Board6–144

Report by the Chair of the TIR Executive Board 6–8 4

Implementation of the intermodal aspects of the TIR Convention 9 5

International databases and electronic tools managed by the TIR secretariat 10–13 5

National and regional TIR workshops and seminars 14 6

B.Administration of the TIR Executive Board and the TIR secretariat15–196

Status report on the accounts for the year 2021 15 6

Procedure for financing the operation of the TIR Executive Board and TIR secretariat 16–19 6

VI.Revision of the Convention (agenda item 5) 20–27 7

A.Amendment proposals to the Convention transmitted by the Working Party20–227

B.Amendment proposals to the Convention transmitted by the TIR Executive Board23–267

C.Accepted amendment proposals to the Convention pending formal adoption278

VII.eTIR (agenda item 6) 28–33 8

A.Latest developments of the eTIR international system and the ongoing eTIR interconnection projects288

B.Outcome of the first session of the Technical Implementation Body29–338

VIII

Authorization for printing and distributing TIR Carnets and the organizing and functioning of the guarantee system (agenda item 7) 34–38 9

A.Prolongation of the authorization34–359

B.Audit report for the year 202036–389

Agreement between the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the International Road Transport Union (agenda item 8) 39–40 9

X.Audit of the accounts of the TIR Executive Board and the TIR secretariat (agenda item 9)41–4210

XI.Other business (agenda item 10) 43–45 10

A.Date of next session4310

B.Restriction on the distribution of documents 4410

C.List of decisions4510

XII.Adoption of the report (agenda item 11) 46 10

Annex

I.Attendance

The Administrative Committee for the TIR Convention, 1975 (AC.2) held its seventy-seventh session on 9 and 10 (a.m.) February 2022, virtually and in-person, in Geneva. The session was attended by representatives of the following countries: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Representatives of the European Union were also present. The following non-governmental organizations were represented: Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), International Road Transport Union (IRU). The Committee noted that the required quorum for the purposes of taking decisions – of at least one-third of the States which are contracting parties (according to Annex 8, Article 6 of the Convention) – was attained.

II.Adoption of the agenda (agenda item 1)

The Committee adopted the agenda of the session (ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/156 and ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/156/Add.1) and noted the availability of additional information.

III.Election of officers (agenda item 2)

In accordance with the Committee’s rules of procedure and established practice, the Committee elected Ms. F. Coulon (Belgium) as Chair for its sessions in 2022. Contracting parties were strongly encouraged to nominate candidates for the post of Vice-Chair in order to facilitate any future election process.

IV.Status of the TIR Convention, 1975 (agenda item 3)

The Committee was informed that the TIR Convention has seventy-seven contracting parties and that the TIR system is operational in sixty-five countries. In particular, the Committee recalled that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, acting in his capacity as depositary, issued the following depositary notifications: (i) C.N.99.2021.TREATIES-XI.A.16 of 25 March 2021, informing of the submission of a proposal to amend Article 18 and Annexes 1 and 6 of the TIR Convention, 1975. In accordance with the provisions of Article 59 (3) of the Convention, the amendments shall enter into force on 25 June 2022, unless an objection has been communicated to the Secretary-General not later than by 25 March 2022; (ii) C.N.370.2021.TREATIES-XI.A.16 of 15 November 2021, informing that, by 4 November 2021, none of the Parties had communicated an objection to the various proposals to amend the body and annexes of the TIR Convention, 1975, including those that make the electronic submission of data to ITDB obligatory. Consequently, in accordance with the provisions of article 59 (3) of the Convention, the amendments entered into force with respect to all Parties to the Convention on 4 February 2022. More detailed information on depositary notifications is available on the TIR website.

The delegation of the European Union informed the Committee that these latest amendment proposals, as contained in Amendment 38 to the TIR Convention, had been published in Official Journal L459 of 22 December 2021, in all official languages of the European Union.

V.Activities and administration of the TIR Executive Board (agenda item 4)

A.Activities of the TIR Executive Board

Report by the Chair of the TIR Executive Board

The Committee endorsed the report of the TIR Executive Board (TIRExB) at its eighty-ninth session (July 2021), contained in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2022/1.

At its ninety-first session (February 2022), the Board discussed and considered the following topics, based on its functions according to Annex 8, Article 10 of the TIR Convention, its workplan for the period 2021–2022 as approved by AC.2 and its agenda:

•

The Board took note of the several interconnection projects that are taking place between national customs systems and the eTIR international system as well as the readiness of some countries to start official operations of eTIR during 2022, provided that the concepts and the functional specifications are adopted by AC.2 and the conformance tests have been performed successfully.

•

The Board, while considering the importance of Certificate of Approval (CoA) digitalization, recognized how complicated such a task is, since its specific data are not so easy to be digitalized or to be kept updated. Therefore, the Board decided to postpone the work on the digitalization of CoA until the secretariat has delivered other, more significant, mandates for the TIR system, such as the several updates/improvements of ITDB or the operation of the eTIR international system, including the conformance tests.

•

The Board welcomed the new functionalities of ITDB developed by the secretariat, especially the modified registration and notification functionalities for exclusions and withdrawals of holders as well as the TIR Carnet holders web portal.

•

Furthermore, the Board considered, within the framework of its mandate to support the application and revitalization of the TIR Convention, including amendment proposals that would increase the competitiveness of the TIR system, several amendment proposals, submitted by IRU. The Board requested the secretariat to further analyse those proposals, based on comments provided during the session and submit them for consideration at the next session.

•

The Board discussed the preparation of an updated version of the TIR Handbook, including more case studies / good practices, that would increase its value for users and decided to move ahead.

•

In order to create awareness of the market about the intermodal aspects of the TIR system and the benefits that it could bring, the Board decided to organize, in the course of 2022, a workshop where, if possible, all International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) responsible for intermodal transport in several regions and customs authorities should be invited. The secretariat will prepare the concept note of the workshop, including all other organizational details, for approval by the Board at its next session. On the same topic of intermodality, the Board decided to prepare a concise and well-documented policy review paper, in the form of guidelines, which will include different intermodal transport scenarios and the processes / documents to be followed / submitted under the TIR system.

•

Finally, the board continued discussing a draft new Explanatory Note to Article 6 paragraph 2 of the TIR Convention on an early warning mechanism with the aim to find an efficient and mutually acceptable solution.

The Committee took note of Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2022) No. 1 by IRU, with the latest statistics on the distribution of TIR Carnets to national associations as well as Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2022) No. 5 by IRU with the TIR Carnet distribution prices as of 1 January 2022.

Implementation of the intermodal aspects of the TIR Convention

Under this agenda item, the Committee took note of a report by TIRExB on the implementation of the intermodal aspects of the TIR Convention, prepared in cooperation with the secretariat, as contained in Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2022) No. 2 and mandated the secretariat to start implementing the recommendations by TIREXB as included in its report.

International databases and electronic tools managed by the TIR secretariat

The Committee was informed about developments related to the International TIR Data Bank (ITDB) and other information technology projects managed by the TIR secretariat. In particular, the Committee was informed about the latest status of data recordings in ITDB and, in particular, of the following figures: 1,128 web application users, 31,395 authorized holders recorded, 263 stamps and seals recorded, 2,858 customs offices recorded, as well as about the web service usage for the past five years. The Committee also took note of a presentation by the secretariat of the latest upcoming improvements of ITDB, related to the TIR Carnet holder status visibility, as adopted by the Committee at its seventy-fourth session (February 2021) (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/151, paragraphs 29–31) and as outlined in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2020/18/Rev.1.

The Committee recalled that, on 4 February 2022, the latest amendments to the TIR Convention, 1975, had entered into force, making, inter alia, the use of ITDB mandatory.

As of 4 February 2022, the new wording of the legal provisions reads as follows:

•

Annex 9, Part II, paragraph 4:

Under this agenda item, the delegation of the European Union raised an issue with regard to a recent letter by the secretariat on the mandatory use of ITDB, which had been addressed at the heads of customs. The delegation of the European Union suggested that, for the future, letters of a technical nature could be sent directly to delegates in order to speed up their consideration. The secretariat replied that, as a rule, it does its utmost to target its communications to national customs administrations as much as possible, but that there were certain protocols that had to be expected. In addition, not all delegates of all contracting parties appreciate receiving letters for their consideration directly, but rather prefer that they be addressed at their hierarchy. At the proposal of the Chair, the secretariat agreed that, for the future, it would, where possible, copy delegates/TIR focal points/eTIR focal points in the cover email, containing a letter to the heads of customs as attachment.

National and regional TIR workshops and seminars

The Committee was informed about TIR workshops and seminars conducted and/or planned. In particular, the Committee took note that the secretariat (remotely) took part in: (i) the annual technology event of the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Brussels (20 and 21 November 2021) and (ii) a seminar in Amman, organized by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) on the temporary importation of private (1954) and commercial (1956) conventions as well as other United Nations legal instruments in the field of temporary importation (24 November 2021).

B.Administration of the TIR Executive Board and the TIR secretariat

Status report on the accounts for the year 2021

In accordance with Annex 8, Article 11, paragraph 4 of the Convention, TIRExB shall submit audited accounts to the Committee at least once a year or at the request of the Committee. The Committee was informed that the competent Finance Services of the United Nations were not able to formally finalize the accounts for 2021 by February 2022 and that, therefore, the report on the complete and final accounts would be transmitted, as in the past, to the next session of the Committee in 2022 for formal approval.

Procedure for financing the operation of the TIR Executive Board and TIR secretariat

The Committee recalled that the budget and cost plan for the operation of TIRExB and the TIR secretariat for the year 2022 had been approved by the Committee at its previous session (ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/155, para. 14). The Committee was informed about the transfer of the required funds for the year 2022 by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) to the TIR trust fund. At its previous session, the Committee also approved the amount per TIR Carnet ($2.25 (rounded) (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/155, paras. 15 and 16).

In addition, the Committee recalled the procedure for the collection and transfer of the amount per TIR Carnet to finance the operation of the TIRExB and the TIR secretariat (ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/145, para. 57 and ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2019/24, Annex II).

The Committee was informed about the audit report and management letter for the year 2021 and, in particular, that the number of TIR Carnets distributed in 2021 (709,181) was lower than the forecast at the end of 2020 (756,000) and that, as a consequence, the books of IRU were showing an internal deficit of SwF 86,029 (Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2022) No. 6). In accordance with Annex II, point 12 of the 2020–2022 ECE/IRU agreement (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2019/24), the Committee tentatively decided to reflect this amount in the amount per TIR Carnet in 2023 in order to clear the above-mentioned deficit, pending the availability of the audit report as official document at its next session.

The Committee also took note of a letter by IRU, informing of the transfer of the required funds for the year 2022 to the TIR Trust Fund, contained in Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2022) No. 3.

VI.Revision of the Convention (agenda item 5)

A.Amendment proposals to the Convention transmitted by the Working Party

Under this agenda item, the Committee recalled that, at its previous session, it endorsed the following (new or updated) comments: (i) comment to Article 18 “Several customs offices of departure and/or destination”; (ii) comment to Annex 6, Explanatory Note 0.8.3; (iii) comment to Annex 6, Explanatory Note 0.49; and (iv) comment to Annex 9, Part II “Model Authorization Form (MAF)” and decided that they will be applicable only as of the moment that the corresponding amendment proposals to the Convention enter into force (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/155, paras. 18 and 19).

The Committee endorsed the updated comment to Article 18 “Possibilities of increasing the total number of loading and unloading points to more than eight in exceptional cases, as contained in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2022/2 and decided that it will be applicable only as of the moment that the corresponding amendment proposal to the Convention enters into force, viz. 25 June 2022.

The Committee took note that, for the time being, no further amendment proposals had been transmitted by the Working Party for consideration.

B.Amendment proposals to the Convention transmitted by the TIR Executive Board

The Committee recalled that, at its previous session, it considered document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2021/4 by IRU, presenting an analysis of the messages exchanged in the framework of the eTIR specifications, but could not reach agreement, due to the technical nature of the issues at stake. It requested the secretariat to transmit the document to the Technical Implementation Body (TIB) for further assessment, inviting the Turkish delegation, which stressed the need for full compliance of the proposal with the provisions of the TIR Convention, as well as others, to submit their comments to the secretariat no later than by 7 November 2021, so that they could be transferred to TIB for consideration. TIB was requested to transmit its findings to the Committee for final approval, including, potentially, issues of a legal nature that needed to be addressed by the Committee itself (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/155, paras. 21 and 22).

The Chair of TIB briefed the Committee about its findings on this issue. The Committee took note that TIB had considered the creation of an additional pair of messages which would allow the platform, used by associations to issue eGuarantees, to ensure that the holder is authorized prior to the issuance of eGuarantees. TIB had decided that the inclusion of a new pair of messages is feasible and makes sense from a technical perspective. TIB had requested the secretariat to transmit these findings to AC.2. Regarding the question raised by Turkey who should be registering eGuarantees, issued by national associations in line with the provision of Article 6, paragraph 3 of the TIR Convention, in the eTIR international system, TIB decided that, before being in a position to propose a technical solution, the issue, because of its legal nature, should be transmitted back to AC.2. TIB recommended that AC.2 could, possibly, seek prior consideration by TIRExB before taking a final decision on both matters. AC.2 agreed with this recommendation and requested TIRExB to assess the legal aspects of the issue and provide its considerations to AC.2 at one of its future sessions. In its intervention under this agenda item, the delegation of IRU explained that its proposal does not imply any changes in the roles of either IRU or its member associations, as had already been clarified at the previous session of AC.2. IRU and its TIR national associations exchange data on TIR Carnets and eGuarantees in full respect of the TIR Convention.

Under this agenda item, the Committee also recalled that, at its seventy-fourth session (February 2021), it discussed a proposal by the Romanian customs administration for a new Explanatory Note to Article 6, paragraph 2 (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/151, para. 35). The Committee requested TIRExB to study the proposals as contained in paras. 1–4 of Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2021) No. 6, while disregarding the proposal contained in para. 5, as it was still under internal consideration (see Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2021) No. 6/Corr.1). Against this background, the Committee took note of Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2022) No. 4, transmitting a letter of 19 October 2021 by the Romanian customs administration, in which it officially informed of the withdrawal of the proposal contained in para. 5 of Informal document WP.30/AC.2 (2021) No. 6.

The Committee took note that, for the time being, no further amendment proposals had been transmitted by TIRExB for consideration.

C.Accepted amendment proposals to the Convention pending formal adoption

The Committee took note that, for the time being, there were no outstanding accepted amendment proposals pending formal adoption by the Committee.

VII.eTIR (agenda item 6)

A.Latest developments of the eTIR international system and the ongoing eTIR interconnection projects

The Committee decided to refer to the report of the Working Party on Customs Questions affecting Transport (WP.30) on its 159th session (please refer to ECE/TRANS/WP.30/318, paragraph 13).

B.Outcome of the first session of the Technical Implementation Body

The Committee took note of the outcome of the first session of TIB as presented by its Chair and detailed in the report contained in ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2. In particular, the Committee noted that TIB had adopted version 4.3 of the eTIR technical specifications, as contained in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/5-ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2022/14, and confirmed their alignment with version 4.3 of the eTIR concepts (ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/3-ECE/TRANS/WP30/AC.2/2022/12) and the eTIR functional specifications (ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/4-ECE/TRANS/WP30/AC.2/2022/13) including some amendments thereto, contained in documents ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/6 and ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/7, pending their adoption by AC.2.

The Committee noted that TIB had adopted its Rules of Procedure (RoP), the final version of which is contained in Annex II of the report of the first session and, in line with Article 4 of Annex 11 of the Convention, endorsed the RoP of TIB.

The Committee noted that version 4.3 of the eTIR specifications does not yet meet all the requirements of the Eurasian Customs Union and of the European Union, and that the relevant amendment proposals will be considered by TIB when elaborating version 4.4 of the eTIR specifications, in particular the issues brought forward by the Russian Federation, i.e. languages for text fields, additional data requirements, format and structure of messages and the concept of trusted third parties. The Committee also noted that TIB had already started working on version 4.4 at its first session. The Committee regretted the late availability of the Russian and French version of the introduction and of the eTIR functional specifications.

The Committee took note of version 4.3 of the introduction to the eTIR specifications, contained in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/2-ECE/TRANS/WP30/AC.2/2022/11.

In line with Annex 11, Article 5, the Committee adopted the eTIR concepts and the eTIR functional specifications, contained in documents ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/3-ECE/TRANS/WP30/AC.2/2022/12 and ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/TIB/2022/4-ECE/TRANS/WP30/AC.2/2022/13, including the amendments adopted by TIB at its first session. This provides a complete legal and technical basis for those countries that are willing to implement the eTIR procedure as soon as possible, while noting that the ongoing work will allow all other contracting parties to Annex 11 to bring forward their requirements for consideration by TIB and the Committee in version 4.4 of the eTIR specifications.

VIII.Authorization for printing and distributing TIR Carnets and the organizing and functioning of the guarantee system (agenda item 7)

A.Prolongation of the authorization

The Committee recalled that, at its previous session, it decided to agree to prolong the authorization of IRU for printing and distributing TIR Carnets and the organizing and functioning of the guarantee system for, provisionally, a period of 3 years (2023–2025), subject to official confirmation at its current session (ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/155, para. 27).

The Committee formally decided to prolong the authorization of IRU for printing and distributing TIR Carnets and the organizing and functioning of the guarantee system, for a period of 3 years, viz. 2023–2025.

B.Audit report for the year 2020

The Committee recalled that, pursuant to Annex IV of the agreement between ECE and IRU, IRU shall annually issue an audit report and management letter concerning the records and accounts kept by IRU pertaining to the organization and functioning of the international guarantee system and the printing and distribution of TIR Carnets.

Due to the absence of the audit report as official document at its previous session, the Committee considered, at its present session, document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2022/3 by IRU, containing the audit report and management letter for the year 2020.

The Committee took note of the audit report for the year 2020. In reply to a question from the delegation of the European Union, IRU explained that, for example, the term “re-invoicing” refers to the costs which are borne by IRU with respect to the transportation costs for TIR Carnets, which are re-invoiced to the related associations. Both parties agreed to follow up bilaterally in order to get full understanding of all terms used in the audit report.

IX.Agreement between the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the International Road Transport Union (agenda item 8)

The Committee recalled that, at its previous session, it mandated the secretariat to prepare, in consultation with IRU and the competent United Nations services, a new draft ECE/IRU agreement, covering the same period of time as the authorization (viz. 2023–2025) for consideration and, possibly, adoption at its current session (see ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/155).

The Committee adopted document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2022/4, containing the draft ECE/IRU agreement for the years 2023–2025. The Committee mandated the secretariat to conclude the new agreement with a view to continue financing the operation of TIRExB and the TIR secretariat as of the year 2023, subject to official confirmation, at its October 2022 session, of the required adjustments to Annex 1 to the said agreement with the budget proposal and cost plan figures for the year 2023.

X.Audit of the accounts of the TIR Executive Board and the TIR secretariat (agenda item 9)

The secretariat informed the Committee that the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) had informed ECE that it had closed the last outstanding recommendation, No. 6. The secretariat further informed the Committee that, on 22 November 2021, ECE and IRU signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the TIR Convention and, more specifically, Annex 11 of the TIR Convention, establishing the so-called eTIR procedure, by ensuring the interconnection of IRU systems to the eTIR international system, as well as the interconnection of as many as possible national customs systems to the eTIR international system, following the eTIR technical specifications (see Article 1.1. of the MoU, as contained in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC2/2021/8).

As part of the new MoU, the Committee endorsed the annual workplan of the P3 Information Systems Officer staff member, hired against the funds provided by IRU under the MoU, for the year 2022, as contained in document ECE/TRANS/WP.30/AC.2/2022/5.

XI.Other business (agenda item 10)

A.Date of next session

The Committee noted that the ECE secretariat had made tentative arrangements to hold the seventy-eighth session of the Committee on 12 (p.m.) and 13 October 2022, subject to potential adjustments due to the ongoing COVID pandemic and the United Nations liquidity crisis. Prospective participants were encouraged, within the existing sanitary and organizational restrictions, to consider attending the session in person.

B.Restriction on the distribution of documents

The Committee decided that there would not be any restriction on the distribution of documents issued in connection with its current session.

C.List of decisions

The list of adopted decisions will be attached as Annex to the final report.

XII.Adoption of the report (agenda item 11)

In accordance with Annex 8, Article 7 of the Convention, the Committee adopted the report of its seventy-seventh session on the basis of a draft prepared by the secretariat.