88
TO THE POINT MULTIMODAL • THE JOINT MEETING OF RID/ADR/ADN EXPERTS WRAPPED UP SEVERAL AMENDMENTS AT ITS SPRING SESSION, MANY OF THEM ADDRESSING URGENT SAFETY ISSUES THE JOINT MEETING of the RID Committee of Experts and the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP15) of the UN Economic Commission for Europe held its spring session in Bern, Switzerland from 15 to 19 March 2021, in a hybrid format with both in-person and online attendance. The joint meeting’s main task is to ensure the maximum possible degree of harmonisation between the regulations that govern the transport of dangerous goods by rail (RID),
maintenance and inspection of the various means of containment. The spring session was chaired by Claude Pfauvadel (France) with Silvia Garcia Wolfrum (Spain) as vice-chair. It was attended by representatives of 25 countries (including the US), the European Commission, the EU Agency for Railways (ERA), the Organisation for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) and 16 non-governmental organisations.
road (ADR) and inland waterway (ADN) in Europe and, increasingly, elsewhere around the globe. While it is charged also with aligning the modal regulations with the UN Model Regulations insofar as possible, it concentrates in particular on the rules for the design, construction,
TANKS MATTERS As is usual, those papers relating to tanks were passed to the Working Group on Tanks, which met in virtual form for the first three days of the session under the chairmanship of Arne Bale (UK), with Kees de Putter (Netherlands) acting as secretary. The Working Group did not
HCB MONTHLY | JULY/AUGUST 2021
consider proposals relating to the inspection and certification of tanks, which were dealt with by a separate informal working group and by the Joint Meeting in plenary. The Working Group on Tanks continued with its discussions on safety in the design and use of extra-large tank containers; while these have so far been used in in-plant applications and very specific overland transport, where strict construction and operational standards have been observed, there is concern that, should they been adopted more widely, specific safety considerations will have to be taken into account. The Working Group supported the development of a definition for ‘extra-large tank-container’, as any specific requirements included in the regulations will need to be closely defined. However, it proved impossible to settle on such a definition as there needs to
THE WORKING GROUP ON TANKS CONTINUED DELIBERATION OF EXTRA-LARGE TANK CONTAINERS (ABOVE) AND ALSO LOOKED AGAIN AT THE TRANSPORT OF LNG IN TANKS (OPPOSITE)
