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CATCH THE LAST TRAIN RAIL • THEY WERE NOT TO KNOW IT AT THE TIME, BUT THE RID STANDING WORKING GROUP’S NOVEMBER 2019 SESSION WAS THE LAST OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE 2021 TEXT
THE RID COMMITTEE of Experts’ standing working group held its 11th session in Vienna this past 25 to 28 November. Its main task was to progress with agreement of the amendments that will appear in the 2021 text of RID, the regulations governing the transport of dangerous goods by rail in much of Europe, taking account of the amendments included in the 21st revised edition of the UN Model Regulations and the decisions made by the RID/ADR/ADN Joint Meeting of experts. The session was chaired by Caroline Bailleux (Belgium) with Othmar Krammer (Austria) as vice-chair. It was attended by delegations from 19 RID contracting states and representatives from Russia (as an OTIF
HCB MONTHLY | JUNE 2020
member state that does not apply RID), the European Commission, the EU Agency for Railways (ERA), the Organisation for Cooperation of Railways (OSJD) and five non-governmental organisations. UN HARMONISATION The Secretariat provided the meeting with a consolidated list of the amendments agreed at its session in November 2018 and those adopted by the Joint Meeting in 2018 and 2019. The meeting confirmed the changes, correcting a few errors along the way. [HCB will report in more detail on the amendments adopted once the final text has been approved later in the year.]
Russia picked up on the use of different formats in the presentation of alphanumeric codes: in the Dangerous Goods List these are shown without blank spaces but in the texts of the provisions they are shown with blank spaces. This could cause problems when using IT systems. Austria pointed out that the UN Model Regulations also use alphanumeric codes without blank spaces throughout. Belgium followed up on a proposal made by the International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) at the Joint Meeting in September 2019 to refine the definition of ‘tank-container or portable tank operator’, which had been adopted. ITCO had not made any proposal to amend the definition of ‘operator of a tank-wagon’, which Belgium now offered, on the basis that the term ‘operator’ in this context is equivalent to the term ‘keeper’ as used in other rail-related legislation and regulations. The standing working group did not accept the rewording of the definition of ‘operator of a tank-wagon’, as it felt it is correct as it stands. However, it did amend footnote 5 to that definition, to update the references to EU directives on railway safety and interoperability.
