TIR Convention Signed on: | 1975. |
TIR Convention Signatories: | 17 Signatories (77 parties). |
TIR Convention Effective from: | 20th March 1978. |
Treaty Type: | International Transport of Goods |
Treaty Area: | Transport treaty. |
The Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) is one of the most successful international transport conventions and so far the only universal Customs transit system in existence.
The TIR Convention facilitates the international carriage of goods from one country to another. As a rule, the vehicle remains sealed throughout the TIR transport and, thus, goods are generally not inspected at border crossings. However, customs authorities remain entitled to perform inspections whenever they suspect irregularities.
More than 33,000 operators are authorized to use the TIR system, and around 1.5 million TIR transports carried out operations per year. The usage of the TIR system is limited to authorized operators only.
TIR Convention was drafted in 1975 and came into force on 20th March 1978.
Currently, it has 77 Contracting Parties, including the European Union.
Out of 77 Contracting Parties, only 17 states have signed the TIR convention till now, including the European Union. Hence only 17 TIR convention signatories are bound to follow all rules and regulations. All other parties are not bound by the TIR convention.
The main objective of the TIR Convention is to facilitate international transit through simplified Customs transit procedures and an international guarantee system.
The official languages of the TIR convention are English, French, and Russian.