COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
C0M(93) 665 final - SYN 487 
Brussels, 15 December 1993 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL P1PECTJV5 
on uniform procedures 
for checks on the transport of 
dangerous goods by road 
(presented by the Commission) 
_/l -. 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
A. Preliminary remarks 
In recent years there has been a marked increase in the transport of 
dangerous goods by road, in line with economic development. 
In volume terms, the transport of dangerous goods by road accounts for about 
15% of total land transport tonnage, according to an OECD estimate. 
The number of Community road vehicles transporting dangerous goods is 
estimated at about 20% of the total number of goods vehicles: in other 
words, at any time some 2 million vehicles are carrying dangerous goods on 
the Community's road network. 
In view of the scale of this phenomenon, and in response to tragic accidents 
involving consignments of dangerous goods during the 1980s, the Commission 
decided to examine the matter and — without in any way questioning the 
quality of the work carried out in this field within the relevant 
international organizations — to draw up and send the Council a series of 
proposals aimed at improving the conditions for the transport of dangerous 
goods by road. 
Special mention should be made of the measures relating to: 
- vocational training for drivers of vehicles carrying dangerous goods by 
road;l 
- vocational training for road haulage operators transporting dangerous 
goods by road;2 
- minimum requirements for certain tankers entering or leaving Community 
ports;3 
- the appointment of an officer for the prevention of the risks inherent in 
the carriage of dangerous goods in undertakings which transport such 
goods, and on the vocational qualification of such officers.4 
* 
* * 
1 Directive 89/684/EEC of 21 December 1989, OJ No L 398, 30.12.1989. 
2 Directive 89/438/EEC of 21 June 1989, OJ No L 212, 22.7.1989. 
3 Directive 79/116/EEC of 21 December 1978, OJ No L 33, 8.2.1979. 
4 Proposal for a Directive COM(91) 4 final of 11 June 1991. 
- 2 -
This Directive has been drawn up with a view to improving and ensuring 
compliance with the safety conditions for the transport of dangerous goods 
by road and eliminating barriers to the free movement of dangerous goods 
transported by road throughout the Community. 
In the absence of international or Community rules governing checks on 
compliance with safety standards for the transport of dangerous goods by 
road, this Directive introduces a uniform procedure for such checks which 
will apply both within the Community and to consignments entering the 
Community from third countries. 
This measure is all the more essential as the Council is called on to adopt 
a Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning 
the transport of dangerous goods by road.5 
B. Justification with regard to the principle of subsidiarity 
(a) What are the objectives of this Directive in terms of the obligations 
of the Community? 
This Directive has three main objectives: 
- to introduce a system of checks on the transport of dangerous goods 
by road which takes account of the elimination of such checks at the 
Community's internal borders pursuant to Regulations (EEC) Nos 
4060/896 and 3912/927 and interrupts such transport as little as 
possible; 
5 OJ No ... 
6 OJ No L 390 of 30 December 1989. 
7 OJ No L 395 of 31 December 1992. 
- 3 -
in the context of the future Directive on the approximation of 
national safety standards for the transport of dangerous goods by 
road, to introduce a uniform and sufficiently effective framework for 
checks on compliance with those standards by road haulage operators; 
to apply this uniform framework not only to the transport of 
dangerous goods within the Community but also to road vehicles 
transporting dangerous goods coming from third countries. 
(b) Does this measure fall within a field of exclusive Community 
competence? 
Shared competence: Article 75(1)(c) of the Treaty 
(c) What is the scale of the problem (for example, how many Member States 
are concerned and what solution has been in force hitherto)? 
There is no international convention governing checks on the transport 
of dangerous goods by road. As a result, and in the absence of common 
standards applicable by all Member States, checks are based on national 
standards, which obviously differ from one Member State to another. 
This leads to permanent uncertainty regarding compliance with the 
applicable safety standards and a succession of checks during journeys. 
(d) What is the most effective solution, given the resources of the 
Community and of the Member States? 
In view of the specificity of the products concerned and the very 
strict safety standards which must be applied to their transport, in 
the complete absence of coordination the action taken by the various 
Member States can lead to a level of checks which is either inadequate 
or excessive. The harmonization and coordination of checks at Community 
level can ensure an adequate level of checks and, as a result, greater 
compliance with the provisions governing the transport of dangerous 
goods, while avoiding serious disruption of the movements of the 
vehicles concerned. The elimination of successive checks during a 
journey and the reduction to 30 minutes of the time required for such 
checks will have a favourable impact on the efficiency of such 
transport. 
» 4 -
(e) What concrete added value does the envisaged Community measure have and 
what would be the cost of failing to act? 
Regulations (EEC) Nos 4060/89 and 3912/92, referred to above, 
eliminated checks on the transport of dangerous goods carried out at 
the Community's internal borders, a step which was necessary for the 
completion of an internal market without internal borders. However, 
achievement of this objective did not bring with it the optimum 
fluidity of such transport throughout the Community. As stated at (c) 
above, in the absence of Community or international standards for 
checks on the transport of dangerous goods, the Member States find 
themselves obliged, on account of the specificity of the goods 
transported, to continue to apply within their respective territories 
their own criteria as regards compliance with the safety standards for 
the transport of dangerous goods, and these criteria obviously vary; 
this results in a proliferation of checks during each journey and the 
continued disruption of transport operations which it was the main 
objective of the above-mentioned Regulation to eliminate. 
A measure of this kind is all the more necessary as the Council will be 
asked at the same time to adopt a Directive approximating the laws of 
the Member States on the transport of dangerous goods by road. This 
Directive, introducing uniform procedures for checks on the transport 
of dangerous goods by road, makes compliance with the safety standards 
laid down in the above-mentioned Directive credible and therefore 
effective. 
(f) What measures are available to the Community? 
(g) Are uniform rules necessary or would a directive specifying general 
objectives and leaving it to the Member States to adopt appropriate 
measures to achieve them suffice? 
The adoption of common rules embodied in a binding legal instrument is 
essential, given the specific nature of the transport operations 
concerned. Goods transport is by definition extremely mobile. It 
includes domestic transport, transport between Member States and 
transport to and from third countries. Compliance with the very strict 
safety standards applying to the transport of dangerous goods and 
checks on such compliance must follow criteria which are as nearly 
- 5 -
identical as possible in all Member States in order to avoid being a 
danger to human life, property and the environment and a serious 
obstacle to the free movement of products and the vehicles concerned 
throughout the Community. 
In procedural terms, a directive can attain the objective pursued, as 
this legislation is addressed principally to governments and is 
intended to be incorporated into existing legislation. 
C. Objectives and content of the proposal for a Directive 
The proposal for a Directive is intended to attain the following objectives: 
- to enable checks on the transport of dangerous goods within the Community 
to take place throughout the territory of the Member States, provided 
they are carried out within the framework of normal checks and without 
discrimination on the basis of the nationality of the drivers or 
vehicles. The same applies to the transport of dangerous goods coming 
from third countries, in that checks need not necessarily take place at 
the external border of the Member State where the consignments in 
question enter the Community (Article 3); 
- to define a uniform and sufficiently comprehensive list of the minimum 
safety aspects to be checked and the infringements to be penalized (first 
sentence of Article 4(a)); 
- to apply the above-mentioned uniform list also to consignments 
transported by vehicles registered or having received authorization to 
use the highways in a third country, whether or not that country is a 
contracting party to the ADR. Checks on such vehicles, and in particular 
on the items listed in Annex I, are intended to ensure that such vehicles 
comply with ADR standards; 
- to provide the driver with a copy of the results of the checks carried 
out, in order to avoid a succession of such checks during a journey, 
wherever possible (second sentence of Article 4(a)); 
to arrange for checks to be carried out in the road haulage undertaking 
concerned or the undertaking responsible for loading the vehicle, in 
particular where infringements jeopardizing the safety of the transport 
of dangerous goods have been detected during roadside checks (Article 6); 
- to encourage the reporting of carriers who have committed infringements 
to the Member State in which the vehicle is registered or the undertaking 
responsible for loading the vehicle is established (Article 7(2)); 
- to encourage cooperation between Member States with a view to recording 
and penalizing infringements uncovered during roadside checks 
(Article 8). 
- G-
Proposal for a Council Directive on uniform procedures 
for checks on the transport of 
dangerous goods by road 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in 
particular Article 75 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,* 
in cooperation with the European Parliament,^ 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,^ 
Whereas the Community has adopted a number of measures for the establishment 
of an internal market comprising an area without internal frontiers in which 
the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in 
accordance with the provisions of the Treaty; 
Whereas checks on the transport of dangerous goods by road carried out at 
internal frontiers were abolished pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89,4 
as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3356/91,5 and Regulation (EEC) 
No 3912/92;6 
1 
2 
3 
4 OJ No L 390, 30.12.1989. 
5 OJ No L 318, 20.11.1991. 
6 OJ No L 395, 31.12.1992. 
-^ ", 
Whereas, in the absence of Community coordination, there is a risk that the 
checks carried out by the Member States throughout their territory will 
prove either excessive, with certain of the vehicles concerned being stopped 
repeatedly, or insufficient; 
Whereas the Community is in the process of adopting a Directive on the 
approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning the transport of 
dangerous goods by road;7 whereas the procedures for checking this type of 
transport should accordingly be harmonized in order for compliance with the 
safety standards laid down therein to be verified more effectively; 
Whereas, in the light of the principle of subsidiarity, Community action is 
therefore necessary to improve the level of safety of the transport of 
dangerous goods, while at the same time ensuring the necessary fluidity of 
such transport; 
Whereas a uniform and sufficiently comprehensive list of items to be 
checked, applicable to such transport throughout the Community, should 
therefore be established; 
Whereas it is necessary to identify a minimum number of infringements deemed 
sufficiently serious by all Member States to result in the application to 
the vehicles concerned of appropriate measures depending on the 
circumstances or the requirements of safety, including, where appropriate, 
refusal to admit the vehicles concerned to the Community; 
Whereas in order to Improve compliance with safety standards for the 
transport of dangerous goods by road it is necessary to make provision for 
checks to be carried out also in undertakings in Member States where the 
goods were packaged, collected, stored, loaded or unloaded, in particular 
when serious infringements of laws on the transport of dangerous goods have 
been recorded on the road; 
7 OJ No 
-8-
Whereas the checks in question must apply to all consignments of dangerous 
goods transported by road wholly or partly within the territory of the 
Member States, irrespective of the point of departure or the destination of 
the goods or the country in which the vehicle is registered, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE 
Article 1 
This Directive shall apply to checks carried out by Member States on the 
transport of dangerous goods by road in vehicles entering or travelling in 
their territory. 
It shall not apply to the transport of dangerous goods carried out by 
vehicles belonging to the armed forces or for which they are responsible, or 
to postal consignments. 
Article 2 
For the purposes of this Directive: 
"dangerous goods" means dangerous goods defined as such in the Council 
Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States 
concerning the transport of dangerous goods by road;8 
"undertakings" means any natural person, whether or not profit-seeking, 
any association or group of persons without legal personality, whether or 
not profit-seeking, and any body coming under a public authority, 
8 OJ No 
-3, 
whether itself possessing legal personality or dependent on an authority 
having such personality, which carry, load, or unload dangerous goods or 
cause them to be carried, and those which store, collect, package or take 
delivery of such goods for their later conveyance, which are located in 
the territory of the Community; 
"check" means any check, control, inspection, verification or formality 
carried out on the road or in undertakings for reasons of safety inherent 
in the transport of dangerous goods; 
"consignment" means a consignment of dangerous goods transported wholly 
or partly on the road network of a Member State; 
"vehicle" means any vehicle falling within the scope of the ADR or, as 
the case may be, the Council Directive on the approximation of the laws 
of the Member States concerning the transport of dangerous goods by road. 
Article 3 
Consignments of dangerous goods transported within or entering the Community 
may be checked in the territory of a Member State, provided such checks are 
not carried out at the internal frontiers of the Community but as part of 
normal checks and without discrimination on the basis of the nationality of 
the drivers or vehicles concerned, in order to check their compliance with 
the laws on the transport of dangerous goods by road. 
- A o -
Article 4 
(a) These checks must cover at least the items included in the checklist in 
Annex I. A duplicate checklist showing the result of the check duly 
certified by the authority which carried it out shall be given to the 
driver of the vehicle and presented on request in order to avoid, where 
possible, repetition of the check later in the journey. 
(b) These checks shall be made at different places, at any time of day, and 
cover a sufficiently extensive portion of the road network to make 
checkpoints difficult to avoid. 
(c) These places shall be selected so as to make it possible to bring 
infringing vehicles into compliance or to immobilize them without 
causing a safety hazard. 
(d) Where appropriate, samples of the goods transported may be taken for 
examination by recognized laboratories. 
(e) Except where an infringement constituting a safety hazard is 
established, the time taken to conduct a check shall not normally 
exceed half an hour. 
Article 5 
Without prejudice to other penalties which may be imposed, consignments in 
respect of which one or more infringements of the safety standards for the 
transport of dangerous goods among those listed in Annex II are established 
shall be immobilized, either on the spot or at a place designated for this 
purpose by the authorities carrying out the check, and obliged to be brought 
into conformity before continuing their journey or be subject to other 
appropriate measures depending on the circumstances or the requirements of 
safety. 
-"M 
Article 6 
1. Checks may also be carried out at the premises of undertakings, in 
particular where infringements which jeopardize safety in the transport 
of dangerous goods have been recorded on the road. 
2. The purpose of such checks shall be to ensure that safety conditions for 
the transport of dangerous goods by road comply with the relevant laws. 
Article 7 
1. Member States shall assist each other to give proper effect to this 
Directive. 
2. Infringements jeopardizing the safety of the transport of dangerous goods 
committed by a non-resident carrier or consignor must be reported to the 
competent authorities in the Member State in which the vehicle is 
registered or in which the consigning undertaking is established. 
3. The competent authorities of the Member State in which an infringement 
has been recorded may, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, ask 
the competent authorities of the Member State in which the vehicle is 
registered or in which the consigning undertaking is established for 
appropriate penalties to be imposed against the offender or offenders. 
Article 8 
If the findings of a roadside check on a vehicle registered in another 
Member State give grounds for believing that infringements have been 
committed which cannot be detected in the course of that check in the 
absence of the necessary data, the competent authorities of the Member 
, 1Z- . 
States concerned must assist each other in order to clarify the situation. 
Where, to that end, the competent Member State carries out a check on the 
premises of the undertaking, the other Member State concerned shall be 
notified of the results. 
Article 9 
Each Member State shall send the Commission each year a report on the 
application of this Directive and in particular on the results of checks 
carried out in its territory. The report shall be drawn up in accordance 
with the model given in Annex III and shall be sent to the Commission before 
the anniversary of the adoption of this Directive. 
Article 10 
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and 
administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 
1 January 1995. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. 
When Member States adopt these provisions they shall contain a reference 
to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such a reference on their 
official publication. The procedures for making this reference shall be 
determined by the Member States. 
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the 
essential provisions of domestic law which they adopt in the field 
governed by this Directive. 
- 43-
Article 11 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States, 
Done at Brussels, For the Council 
The President 
- H vj 
ANNEX I 
CHECKLIST 
Place of check Date Time 
Type of vehicle, registration No 
lorry/road train/articulated vehicle with Trailer/semi-trailer 
cargo body/tank/container 
Transport undertaking 
Driver Nationality 
Driver's mate Nationality 
Consignor, address, place of consignment Consignee, address, 
destination 
Number and weight of packages 
Transport by: 
fixed tank/removable tank/tank-container/battery of receptacles/in bulk/ 
container/package 
Transport documents 
1. Transport/accompanying document 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation 
2. Written instructions 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation 
3. Bilateral/multilateral agreement/national authorization 
on board not on board not applicable 
4. Vehicle type-approval certificates 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation 
5. Driver's training certificate 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation 
45 
Circulation of vehicle 
6. Goods authorized for transport 
yes no 
7. Transport in bulk/packages 
regulation non-regulation 
8. Transport in tanks 
regulation non-regulation 
9. Prohibition on mixed loading 
observed not observed not applicable 
10. Handling and stowage 
regulation non-regulation 
11. Leakage of goods or damage to packages 
leakage damage 
12. UN No/labelling of packages 
regulation non-regulation 
13. Filling of tank 
regulation non-regulation 
14. Special vehicle markings 
yes no 
regulation non-regulation 
15. Tank or bulk transport danger labels 
yes no 
regulation non-regulation 
16. Prohibition on smoking 
observed not observed not applicable 
Vehicle equipment 
17. Toolkit for running repairs 
on board not on board 
iQ 
18. At least one chock per vehicle 
regulation non-regulation 
19. Two orange lights 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation 
20. Vehicle equipment 
regulation non-regulation 
21. Fire extinguisher 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation 
22. Driver protection equipment 
on board not on board 
regulation non-regulation not applicable 
Authority/officer 
having carried out the check 
-4* 
ANNEX II 
INFRINGEMENTS 
For the purposes of this Directive the following in particular shall be 
regarded as infringements: 
(1 
(2 
(3 
(4 
(5 
(6 
(7 
(8 
(9 Goods not authorized for transport 
Absence of consignor's declaration on the conformity of the goods and 
their packaging with transport regulations 
Vehicles which, on checking, display leaks of dangerous substances due 
to the lack of leaktight integrity of tanks or packages. 
Vehicles with no type-approval certificate or with a non-régulâtion 
certificate. 
Vehicles lacking the appropriate orange panels or with non-régulâtion 
orange panels. 
Vehicles without safety instructions or with inappropriate ones. 
Inappropriate vehicle or packaging. 
Driver without a regulation vocational training certificate for the 
carriage of dangerous goods by road. 
Vehicles lacking fire extinguishers. 
(10) Vehicles or packages without regulation danger labels. 
(11) Vehicles lacking transport/accompanying documents, or with particulars 
relating to the dangerous goods on board which are not in compliance 
with the regulations. 
(12) Vehicles not covered by a bilateral/multilateral agreement or not in 
compliance with the agreement 
(13) Overfilling of tank 
ANNEX III(l) 
Model standard form for the report to be sent to the Commission 
concerning infringements and penalties 
INFRINGEMENTS COMMITTED BY RESIDENT EEC CARRIERS AND PENALTIES APPLIED 
STATE : YEAR: 
Name and address 
of undertaking Registration No 
of vehicles-Date of 
report Place of 
infringement Infringements listed in 
Annex II to the Directive2 Penalties 
- applied 
- procedure 
in progrèss^ COMMENTS 
«; 
1 To be completed in the case of roadside checks. 
2 Indicate the point(s) of Annex II corresponding to the infringement(s) recorded. 
3 For cases in which, on the date on which the report is sent to the Commission, a decision has not yet been reached. 
ANNEX 111(2) 
INFRINGEMENTS COMMITTED BY NON-RESIDENT EEC CARRIERS AND PENALTIES APPLIED 
STATE: YEAR: 
Name and address 
of undertaking Registration No 
of vehicle1 Date of 
report Place of 
infringement Infringements listed in 
Annex II to the Directive2 Penalties 
- applied 
- procedure 
in progress-* COMMENTS 
1 To be completed in the case of roadside checks. 
2 Indicate the point(s) of Annex II corresponding to the infringement(s) recorded. 
3 For cases in which, on the date on which the report is sent to the Commission, a decision has not yet been reached. 
ANNEX 111(3) 
INFRINGEMENTS COMMITTED BY CARRIERS FROM A NON-MEMBER COUNTRY AND PENALTIES APPLIED 
STATE: YEAR: 
Name and address 
of undertaking Registration No 
of vehicle1 Date of 
report Place of 
infringement Infringements listed in 
Annex II to the Directive2 Penalties 
- applied 
- procedure 
in progress3 COMMENTS 
1 To be completed in the case of roadside checks. 
2 Indicate the point(s) of Annex II corresponding to the infringement(s) recorded. 
3 For cases in which, on the date on which the report is sent to the Commission, a decision has not yet been reached. 
ANNEX 111(4) 
ACTION TAKEN BY THE STATE IN WHICH THE VEHICLES ARE REGISTERED IN RESPONSE TO INFRINGEMENTS COMMITTED BY 
ITS OWN NATIONALS RECORDED IN OTHER MEMBER STATES 
STATE: YEAR: 
Name and address 
of undertaking 
! Registration No 
of vehicle1 Date of 
receipt 
of file Date and 
place of 
infringement 
i 
i Infringements listed in 
Annex II to the Directive2 Penalties 
- applied 
- procedure 
in progress3 COMMENTS 
1 To be completed in the case of roadside checks. 
2 Indicate the point(s) of Annex II corresponding to the infringement(s) recorded. 
3 For cases in which, on the date on which the report is sent to the Commission, a decision has not yet been reached. 
2 z 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM (93) 665 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 14 07 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-93-726-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-62896-0 
Offîce for Official Publications of the European Communities 
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