Harmonizing transport of dangerous goods

The European Agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road (ADR) is becoming increasingly important as governments and the European Commission consider implementing its technical provisions not only in international transport but also in domestic movements of dangerous goods such as explosive substances and articles, organic peroxides and other thermally unstable substances, fertilizers and lithium batteries. Its provisions have been extended to harmonize other modes of ground transport (including inland waterways) and the fragmentary and sometimes inadequate domestic legislation on the subject. The result is the CRTD Convention, the fundamental objective of which is the adequate and rapid compensation of victims of damage caused during the transport of dangerous goods.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal entered into force in 1992. 132 countries and the European Union are Parties to the Convention, which is concerned with the annual world-wide production of hundreds of millions of metric tonnes of hazardous wastes. The Convention regulates the movement of these wastes and obliges its members to ensure that such wastes are managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. Governments are expected to minimize the quantities that are transported, to treat and dispose of wastes as close as possible to where they were generated, and to minimize the generation of hazardous waste at source.