Directive 2008/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on the inland transport of dangerous goods (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance

• Published date: 30 September 2008
• Subject Matter: ravvicinamento delle legislazioni,trasporti,aproximación de las legislaciones,transportes,rapprochement des législations,transports
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 260, 30 settembre 2008,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 260, 30 de septiembre de 2008,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 260, 30 septembre 2008

02008L0068 — EN — 24.12.2020 — 020.001

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►B DIRECTIVE 2008/68/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 September 2008 on the inland transport of dangerous goods (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 260 30.9.2008, p. 13)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
M1	COMMISSION DECISION 2009/240/EC of 4 March 2009	L 71	23	17.3.2009
M2	COMMISSION DECISION 2010/187/EU of 25 March 2010	L 83	24	30.3.2010
M3	COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2010/61/EU Text with EEA relevance of 2 September 2010	L 233	27	3.9.2010
M4	COMMISSION DECISION 2011/26/EU of 14 January 2011	L 13	64	18.1.2011
M5	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION 2012/188/EU of 4 April 2012	L 101	18	11.4.2012
M6	COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2012/45/EU Text with EEA relevance of 3 December 2012	L 332	18	4.12.2012
M7	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION 2013/218/EU of 6 May 2013	L 130	26	15.5.2013
M8	COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2014/103/EU Text with EEA relevance of 21 November 2014	L 335	15	22.11.2014
M9	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2015/217 notified under document C(2014 of 10 April 2014	L 44	1	18.2.2015
M10	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2015/974 notified under document C(2015 of 17 June 2015	L 157	53	23.6.2015
M11	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2016/629 notified under document C(2016 of 20 April 2016	L 106	26	22.4.2016
M12	COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) 2016/2309 Text with EEA relevance of 16 December 2016	L 345	48	20.12.2016
M13	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2017/695 notified under document C(2017 of 7 April 2017	L 101	37	13.4.2017
M14	COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/217 of 31 January 2018	L 42	52	15.2.2018
►M15	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2018/936 notified under document C(2018 of 29 June 2018	L 165	42	2.7.2018
M16	COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/1846 Text with EEA relevance of 23 November 2018	L 299	58	26.11.2018
M17	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2019/1094 Text with EEA relevance of 17 June 2019	L 173	52	27.6.2019
►M18	REGULATION (EU) 2019/1243 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 June 2019	L 198	241	25.7.2019
►M19	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2020/1241 Text with EEA relevance of 28 August 2020	L 284	9	1.9.2020
►M20	COMMISSION DELEGATED DIRECTIVE (EU) 2020/1833 Text with EEA relevance of 2 October 2020	L 408	1	4.12.2020

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▼B

DIRECTIVE 2008/68/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 24 September 2008

on the inland transport of dangerous goods

(Text with EEA relevance)

Article 1

Scope

1.

This Directive shall apply to the transport of dangerous goods by road, by rail or by inland waterway within or between Member States, including the activities of loading and unloading, the transfer to or from another mode of transport and the stops necessitated by the circumstances of the transport.

It shall not apply to the transport of dangerous goods:

(a)

by vehicles, wagons or vessels belonging to or under the responsibility of the armed forces;

(b)

by seagoing vessels on maritime waterways forming part of inland waterways;

(c)

by ferries only crossing an inland waterway or harbour; or

(d)

wholly performed within the perimeter of an enclosed area.

2.

Annex II, Section II.1, shall not apply to Member States that do not have a railway system, for as long as no such system is established within their territory.

3.

Within one year of the entry into force of this Directive, Member States may decide not to apply Annex III, Section III.1, for one of the following reasons:

(a)

they have no inland waterways;

(b)

their inland waterways are not linked, by inland waterway, to the waterways of other Member States; or

(c)

no dangerous goods are transported on their inland waterways.

If a Member State decides not to apply the provisions of Annex III, Section III.1, it shall notify that decision to the Commission, which shall inform the other Member States.

4.

Member States may lay down specific safety requirements for the national and international transport of dangerous goods within their territory as regards:

(a)

the transport of dangerous goods by vehicles, wagons or inland waterway vessels not covered by this Directive;

(b)

where justified, the use of prescribed routes including the use of prescribed modes of transport;

(c)

special rules for the transport of dangerous goods in passenger trains.

They shall inform the Commission of such provisions and their justifications.

The Commission shall inform the other Member States accordingly.

5.

Member States may regulate or prohibit, strictly for reasons other than safety during transport, the transport of dangerous goods within their territory.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive:

1.

‘ADR’ shall mean the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road, concluded at Geneva on 30 September 1957, as amended;

2.

‘RID’ shall mean the Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail, appearing as Appendix C to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) concluded at Vilnius on 3 June 1999, as amended;

3.

‘ADN’ shall mean the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways, concluded at Geneva on 26 May 2000, as amended;

4.

‘vehicle’ shall mean any motor vehicle intended for use on the road, having at least four wheels and a maximum design speed exceeding 25 km/h, and any trailer, with the exception of vehicles which run on rails, mobile machinery and agricultural and forestry tractors that do not travel at a speed exceeding 40 km/h when transporting dangerous goods;

5.

‘wagon’ shall mean any rail vehicle without its own means of propulsion that runs on its own wheels on railway tracks and is used for the carriage of goods;

6.

‘vessel’ shall mean any inland waterway or seagoing vessel.

Article 3

General provisions

1.

Without prejudice to Article 6, dangerous goods shall not be transported in so far as this is prohibited by Annex I, Section I.1, Annex II, Section II.1, or Annex III, Section III.1.

2.

Without prejudice to the general rules on market access or the rules generally applicable to the transport of goods, the transport of dangerous goods shall be authorised, subject to compliance with the conditions laid down in Annex I, Section I.1, Annex II, Section II.1, and Annex III, Section III.1.

Article 4

Third countries

The transport of dangerous goods between Member States and third countries shall be authorised in so far as it complies with the requirements of the ADR, RID or ADN, unless otherwise indicated in the Annexes.

Article 5

Restrictions on grounds of transport safety

1.

Member States may on grounds of transport safety apply more stringent provisions, with the exception of construction requirements, concerning the national transport of dangerous goods by vehicles, wagons and inland waterway vessels registered or put into circulation within their territory.

2.

If, in the event of an accident or incident within its territory, a Member State considers that the safety provisions applicable have been found to be insufficient to limit the hazards involved in transport operations and if there is an urgent need to take action, that Member State shall, at the planning stage, notify the Commission of the measures which it proposes to take.

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 9(2), the Commission shall decide whether to authorise the implementation of the measures in question and the duration of that authorisation.

Article 6

Derogations

1.

Member States may authorise the use of languages other than those provided for in the Annexes for transport operations performed within their territories.

2.

(a)

Provided that safety is not compromised, Member States may request derogations from Annex I, Section I.1, Annex II, Section II.1, and Annex III, Section III.1, for the transport within their territories of small quantities of certain dangerous goods, with the exception of substances having a medium or high level of radioactivity, provided that the conditions for such transport are no more stringent than the conditions set out in those Annexes.

(b)

Provided that safety is not compromised, Member States may also request derogations from Annex I, Section I.1, Annex II, Section II.1, and Annex III, Section III.1, for the transport of dangerous goods within their territory in the case of:

(i)

local transport over short distances; or

(ii)

local transport by rail on particular designated routes, forming part of a defined industrial process and being closely controlled under clearly specified conditions.

The Commission shall examine in each case whether the conditions laid down in subparagraphs (a) and (b) have been met and shall decide, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 9(2), whether to authorise the derogation and to add it to the list of...