Second ADR Cross border Enforcement (ACE)

On 21th and 22nd June 2018 the second ADR Cross border Enforcement (ACE) took place in the Netherlands. Germany, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Croatia and the Netherlands were participating in this ACE.

Inspections in practice and the results

Totally 44 vehicles with dangerous goods have been checked, from which 15 vehicles contained packages and one vehicle contained bulk. The rest were tank-containers and tank-vehicles. Totally 16 vehicles were not in compliance (violation rate of 36,4%) with the regulations of ADR. The infringements differ from not properly or completed documents (transport documents, written instructions, vehicle loading certificate, certificate of approval of the tank), wrong marking / labeling of (tank)vehicles and of packages, not properly or missing equipment of the driver and fire extinguishers which were out of date or not working. Most of the infringements on the first and second day of the ACE were comparable with each other, only on the second day there were some more serious ones, such as a vehicle with bulk of dangerous goods, which was not sift proof, a leakage of tank-container due to a damaged gasket and a leakage of a packaging. This all resulted in making up totally four official reports (inclusive one concerning driving and resting hours), 10 warnings and some corrective measures.       

Conclusions

Earlier this week (on Tuesday 19th June 2018) a presentation of the ECR was held by one of the participants of the ECR Harmonie sub-working group ADR in the Transport of Dangerous Goods Committee (DG for Mobility and Transport) in Brussels (see also attached presentation). Here, among other things, was explained that there are differences between Member States about the manner of checking, the handling of the controls and the use of safety equipment of the control staff itself. These differences are due to the different training and different competences of the control staff and the way how Member States are organized. This ACE showed all these differences in practice. Therefore, it is important that cooperation in this manner is indispensable and should have to be continued as much as possible. The next ACE is planned in Western Europe (in the area of Dresden) in the week of 24 September 2018. Harmonization of the enforcement on the transport of dangerous goods is a priority, not only for a contribution to a fair competition in Europe and for the safety of the transport of dangerous goods, but it is also important for the uniformity of the outcome of inspection data.   

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