Transport of dangerous goods by road

The purpose of this proposal for a directive was the approximation of the laws of Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road. It took its inspiration from the European Agreement on the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), as recently amended, and whose signatories included all the Member States except Ireland. This prohibited the carriage of certain types of goods, categories 2000-3999 and 10000-260000 in the ADR Agreement, unless a number of conditions relating to packaging and the construction and equipment of the vehicle were met or Member States had granted exemptions for carriage within their national territory. Member States would still be able to apply stricter conditions within their own territory. For non-prohibited goods, the proposal sought to encourage multimodal transport, acknowledging the safety constraints inherent in transporting dangerous goods by sea and air. There would be permanent exemption for the use of vehicles, containers, tankers and re-usable, durable packagings manufactured prior to the future directive, in accordance with the national rules then in force, and exemption up to 31 December 1998 for the manufacture of these items.�