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STRAIGHT ALONG THE WAY ROAD • ADR 2021 MAY STILL BE HOT OFF THE PRESS BUT WP15 HAS ALREADY STARTED WORK ON THE 2023 EDITION, CATCHING UP ON THE SHORTAGE OF MEETINGS DURING 2020 THE UN ECONOMIC Commission for Europe’s (ECE) Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP15) held its 108th session this past 10 to 13 November, after it had been postponed from its original 11 to 15 May dates due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions. In addition, financial constraints, renovation work at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and a shortage of meeting rooms equipped to hold hybrid online and in-person session, as well as a reduction in the availability of
some work was done on the first two days, it was only on the last two days when interpreters were available was the session able to take decisions. The meeting was chaired by Ariane Roumier (France) with Alfonso Simoni (Italy) as vice-chair. Representatives from 23 countries attended, whether in person or online, along with a representative of Tunisia, who took part as a full member of ADR. Also represented were the EU, the Intergovernmental Organisation for
interpreters, caused the meeting to be reduced by one day. Furthermore, while
International Carriage by Rail (OTIF), the EuroMed project and six nongovernmental organisations. The meeting welcomed the accession of Uzbekistan to ADR but noted that 13 countries have yet to deposit the required instruments for the Protocol to enter into
ADR 2023 IS LIKELY TO SEE A LONGER LIST OF AMENDMENTS THAN THE 2021 EDITION
HCB MONTHLY | FEBRUARY 2021
force. It also noted that the proposed amendment of the title of ADR, dropping the word ‘European’, had been accepted and would take effect on 1 January 2021. Furthermore, the amendments to ADR adopted over the previous two years had been accepted for inclusion in the 2021 edition of ADR, which sets out the regulations governing the international transport of dangerous goods by road within Europe – and increasingly elsewhere in the world – and also domestic transport within the EU. The Working Party was also impressed that, Covid-19 restrictions notwithstanding, the UN ECE secretariat and publications services in Geneva had managed to publish the 2021 edition in good time. JOINT MEETING DECISIONS The Working Party then began the task of developing the changes that will appear in the 2023 edition of ADR, beginning with a review of the decisions made by the RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting at its autumn 2020 session, so as to maintain multimodal harmonisation. WP15 deferred a final decision on the proposed changes in Chapter 1.2, and the rearrangement of the way it treats definitions and abbreviations, as this will be reviewed once more by the spring 2021 Joint Meeting, and also sought more time to study the EU’s
