The United Nations TIR Convention and Its Geographical Expansion Incheon, 25-26 March, 2015 Pengcheng Qu, Senior Advisor, China and South East Asia
This is the IRU 2
Evolution of IRU Membership 2014: 170 Members in 75 countries 1948: eight founder countries and CRIPA: 27 Members + FESARTA in 38 countries 3
IRU Secretariat General 1973 IRU Permanent Delegation to the European Union in Brussels 1948 IRU founded in Geneva 1998 IRU Permanent Delegation to Eurasia in Moscow 2005 IRU Permanent Delegation to the Middle East and Region in Istanbul 2012 IRU Secretariat for Africa in Geneva 2013 IRU Permanent Delegation to the United Nations in New-York 4
What is Globalisation? What does it take to have a cup of coffee in a café? The combined efforts of 29 companies in 18 countries Road Transport has become a vital production tool! Source: IRU 5
IRU Caravans: No country is landlocked to road transport! 2005: The Beijing-Berlin-Brussels Caravan 2004: The Lisbon-Vladivostok Caravan 2010: IRU-ECO Silk Road Truck Caravan 2007: Black Sea Highway Caravan 6
IRU Caravan drivers saw this adequate roads but little traffic!! 7
until they reached border crossings!! 8
Euro-Asian Pilot Caravans Beijing Brussels, 2005 Beijing Brussels Black Sea Ring Highway Truck Caravan 2007 Up to 57% of transport time = border crossings 38% of transport costs = unofficial levies IRU New Eurasian Land Transport Initiative 2008-2013 9
Any penalty on road transport is an even greater penalty on the economy as a whole! 16 14 USD Billions 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Transport Costs only All Costs * Source: Hague Consulting Group * Includes lost opportunities 10
Implement key UN facilitation instruments to allow transport to drive trade! 11
Securing and facilitating trade and international road transport Transports Internationaux Routiers Managed by the IRU since 1949 12
What is the TIR System? A tried and tested, affordable facilitation instrument for international transport and trade Global Intermodal Secure Based on TIR Convention of 1975, signed by 68 contracting parties 13
Geographical scope of the TIR Convention 14
The six pillars of the TIR System 15
TIR Carnet 16
TIR Trucks at Border 17
No. of TIR Carnets Used in Some Countries Country Association 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Turkey 42 TOBB 720731 587878 641480 676439 654748 555134 Russia 53 ASMAP 675320 457078 525980 565088 595834 536917 Ukraine 66 ASMAP UA 333079 271936 319532 359337 387434 366771 Poland 51 ZMPD 261618 218542 262121 277172 302149 316376 Lithuania 32 LINAVA 209723 127712 150331 188493 196977 194772 Belarus 34 BAMAP 203105 162804 169524 171049 185454 174705 Bulgaria 46 AEBTRI 151435 125963 141464 148255 143418 135179 Iran 57 ICCIMA 51979 47474 60217 66432 87549 100960 Latvia 33 LATVIJAS AUTO 102439 72311 84800 93784 99762 98898 Moldova 60 AITA 79237 68002 75384 80359 76476 76767 Estonia 31 ERAA 44907 29655 39924 42020 46723 44176 Romania 52 ARTRI (3) 13397 15834 23479 28836 28585 29664 Kazakhstan 81 KAZATO 31665 32459 30184 24135 20909 24326 Kyrgyzstan 92 AIRTO 0 0 0 0 4559 22311 Uzbekistan 74 AIRCUZ 5101 6023 8494 12638 16116 9203 Georgia 54 GIRCA 4100 3684 4844 6425 7728 9130 Tajikistan 78 ABBAT 422 608 998 959 2788 3439 Mongolia 87 NARTAM 0 0 0 0 63 96 18
IRU Computerisation Response to Customs & Trade Requirements Current Status Customs Realistic step towards fully paperless TIR system developed by the IRU and UNECE TIR Holders TIR Associations 19
Real-Time SafeTIR: objectives Starting from 1990s: geopolitical changes with high increase in trade volumes and in TIR transport risk increase for TIR guarantee chain. October 1995: Administrative Committee for the TIR Convention adopted a Recommendation which set out an electronic control system for TIR Carnets. August 2006: this control system SafeTIR, was included in the TIR Convention as Annex 10. Real-Time SafeTIR (RTS) modules: Instant transmission of SafeTIR data TIR Carnet status control SafeTIR reconciliation automation Simplification and higher safety of customs procedures for the facilitation of international trade 20
Real-Time SafeTIR: how works Customs of Destination IRU TIR termination Customs of Departure Customs of entry Efficient risk detection 21
RTS geographic coverage I R E L A N D U N I T E D K I N G D O M F I N L A N D N O R W A Y S W E D E N E S T O N I A R U S S I A N F E D E D E N M A R K L A T V I A L I T H U A N I A Russian Fed. B E L A R U S NETHERLANDS P O L A N D G E R M A N Y R A T I O N 19 RTS countries 1. Azerbaijan 2. Belgium 3. Bosnia and Herzegovina 4. Bulgaria 5. Georgia 6. Iran 7. Kyrgyzstan 8. Kazakhstan 9. Latvia 10.Macedonia 11.Moldova 12.Morocco 13.Russia 14.Serbia 15.Turkey 16.Ukraine 17.Uzbekistan 18.Finland 19.France LUX. F R A N C E S W I T Z E R L A N D C Z E C H R E P U B L I C A U S T R I A H U N G A R Y C R O A T I A BOSNIA- HERZEGOVINA SERBIA R O M A N I A B U L G A R I A U K R A I N E K A Z A K H S T A N In implementation: Belarus Poland PORTUGAL S P A I N I T A L Y ALBANIA MKD G R E E C E CYPRUS T U R K E Y S Y R I A N A R A B R E P U B L I C G E O R G I A ARMENIA A Z E R B A I J A N U Z B E K I S T A N T U R K M E N I S T A N T A J I K I S T A N I R A N A F G H A N I S T A N K I R G I S T A N Next priorities: P E O P L E S R E P U B L I C O F C H I N A Turkmenistan Tajikistan L E B A N O N M O R O C C O T U N I S I A I S R A E L J O R D A N 22
Carnet Dematerialisation Underway First pilot corridor Iran Turkey agreed Technical amendments to IRU IT systems Based on existing message exchanges (e.g. NCTS) to minimize impact on Customs systems First pilot transport operations in 2015 Other countries also interested: IRU ready to consider additional pilot projects to show that paperless operations are already possible today 23
TIR Benefit Studies TIR benefit study for Pakistan TIR benefit study for Latin America TIR benefit for China Economic Benefits of TIR UNESCAP Focus 24
TIR Expansion September 2013 Afghanistan is open for TIR April 2014 UAE Customs signed guarantee agreement April 2014 Pakistan officially confirmed forthcoming accession to TIR January 2015 China officially started the TIR accession process Interest in TIR also expressed by Argentina, Brazil, Iraq, KSA and various African countries 25