The ADR Convention is a European agreement on the international carriage of hazardous materials by road. It is binding in 44 countries.
Since 2003, every company involved in the transportation of dangerous goods by road (carriers, companies receiving and shipping dangerous goods) is required to cooperate with a safety advisor. What is his task?
The ADR advisor helps implement the requirements imposed by the convention, prepares mandatory annual reports to the governor and implements the relevant safety procedures and instructions.
The ADR agreement is revised every two years in odd-numbered years. As of January 1 of a given year, it is mandatory (the previous version of the convention can be used); as of July 1, it is always mandatory.
The ADR Convention consists of:
- the agreement proper, in which the legal relations between the participating countries are defined,
- Annexes A and B, where the provisions regulating the conditions of international road transport of individual hazardous materials are included.
The ADR agreement has common sources with agreements on international transport: by sea (IMDG), by rail (RID) and by air (ICAO).
The ADR plate (an orange reflective information board placed on vehicles carrying hazardous substances) contains two identification numbers of the substance being transported, viz:
- hazard identification number - two or three digits (in the numerator),
- material identification number - four digits (in the denominator).