Road Freight TIR Glossary
AC.2 (Administration Committee)
The TIR Administrative Committee (AC.2) is the highest organ under the Convention and is composed of all Contracting Parties to the Convention. It usually meets twice a year in spring and autumn under the auspices of the UNECE in Geneva to approve amendments to the Convention and to give to all countries, competent authorities and concerned international organizations an opportunity to exchange views on the functioning of the system.
AskTIR
Association Software for Knowledge of TIR — is a software that enables associations to efficiently manage the complete administration of TIR Carnets (Stock management, Control, etc.). AskTIR is seen as being the successor of ATIRS98.
ATA Carnet
Is Customs document for the temporary importation of certain goods (commercial samples and advertising films, goods for international exhibitions, certain types of professional equipment) where there is a clear intention that they will be re-exported in the same condition in which they were imported. The ATA carnets replace normal import and export procedures for qualifying goods subject to a sufficient guarantee or cash deposit being lodged with the issuer of the carnet to cover any possible Customs claims in the event of misuse of the document. The Scheme is administered by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) based in Paris which authorizes national Chambers of Commerce to issue the documents on its behalf.
ATIRS98 (Association TIR System 98)
A computer software application to assist Associations in managing the issue, return and control of Carnets. Data input by the IRU, Associations and Customs includes:
Carnet number;
Date of issue, holder unique number and end of period of validity; and
Date of return of carnet to issuing Association after use;
SafeTIR data
Carnet Issuance
Is when a TIR Carnet is supplied by an issuing Association to a registered TIR Carnet Holder, who will later use the TIR Carnet as an International Transit document.
Carnet Return by Association
The Association sends TIR Carnets back to the IRU (eg. expired unissued, or issued & used, or issued & unused). This is done in two stages; from the Issuing stations to HQ; then from HQ to IRU.
Carnet Return by Holder
Is when a TIR Carnet Holder returns a TIR Carnet either used or unused to the Association that issued it (either directly or «by proxy» from a foreign Association).
CMR Consignement Note
Is a legal contractual document between consignor, road transport operator and consignee, which standardizes the conditions governing the contract for international road transport, particularly with respect to documents to be used and the carrier’s liability with the aim of facilitating international road transport and international trade. To be able to implement the CMR Note, at least one of the countries involved in the international transport (of origin or of destination) should be a contracting party to the CMR Convention.
Combination of vehicles
Coupled vehicles which travel on the road as one unit (i.e. one tractor pulling a trailor and a semi-trailor).
Combined or multimodal transport
Shall mean a transport of goods where different means of transport than the one initially applied are used for at least one leg of the operation, e.g. by road, by rail, by air, waterways, sea etc. or a combination of those, e.g. roll-on-roll-off. If a TIR carnet is in use, it shall cover the operation carried out for the leg by road in a country with which a TIR operation can be established. If the TIR operational country has the means to handle the TIR Carnet for other forms of transport then the TIR Carnet can be used intermodally. Otherwise, the guarantee is lifted for the non-road leg. At least one leg of the transport must be carried out by road.
Common transit
Common transit extends the Community Transit (CT) procedure to movements between the Community and the EFTA countries and also between EFTA countries themselves.
Community transit
Community transit (CT) allows goods that are not in free circulation in the European Community (non-Community goods) to move between two points within the Community without being subject to import duties and other charges. It is also required for the movement of Community goods in certain circumstances, eg. movements to or from the «special territories» of the European Community. Community transit is also used for trade in certain goods between the Community and Andorra and for trade between the Community and San Marino.
Counterfoil ou Souche
The part of each voucher that remains in the TIR Carnet and that is stamped and completed by Customs at every Customs control point (departure, transit and destination).
Country of departure
In the sense of the TIR Convention shall mean the country in which the TIR Carnet together with the goods carried are presented to the Customs office of departure in order to start the TIR transport.
Country of destination
In the sense of the TIR Convention shall mean the TIR operational country (Contracting Party) in which the TIR operation is completed and terminated at the Customs office of final destination.
CPD (Carnet de Passage en Douane)
Is a well established Customs document that replaces national transit or temporary importation procedures for vehicles, making a separate national control system superfluous as it provides for an internationally recognized temporary importation paper and guarantee covering all taxes and duties due by foreign operators to be utilized for national Customs purposes.
Customs (bonded) warehouse
A Customs bonded warehouse is a secure storage building where goods are kept without payment of Customs duties and taxes. The goods may be subsequently imported to home use, at which time the duties and taxes are paid. The goods may also be exported, or transferred to another Customs bonded warehouse. The bonded warehouse may be controlled directly by the Customs authority, or may be operated under conditions laid down by the Customs authority. These conditions relate to sufficient security of the goods, and the maintenance of adequate records.
Customs clearance
Customs clearance is a procedure whereby goods are permitted to enter or leave a Customs territory, or Customs regime. Under the procedure Customs generally require a declaration covering the goods to be presented to them along with payment of any applicable Customs duties and taxes or a document justifying the guarantee of the payment of customs duties and taxes (for example a TIR Carnet).
Customs office en route
Shall mean any Customs office of a TIR operational Contracting Party through which a road vehicle, combination of vehicles of container enters or leaves this Contracting Party in the course of a TIR transport.
Customs office of departure
Shall mean any Customs office of a TIR operational Contracting Party where the TIR transport of a load or part load of goods begins.
Customs office of destination
Shall mean any Customs office of a TIR operational Contracting Party where the TIR transport of a load or part load of goods ends.
CUTE (‘Customs Utility for TIR Transaction Entry’)
A software application, provided by the IRU as one way of capturing and ensuring the electronic transmission of TIR Carnet termination data (SafeTIR data). Customs can use this application to key the data into the terminal, which formats the data into the WP.30 standard and transmits it to the IRU database. Customs worldwide and the memeber Association will then have access to this information.
Cute-Wise
(Customs Utility for TIR Transaction Entry — Worldwide Information System for Enquiry) This CUTE-Wise application forms an integral part of the SafeTIR Architecture and its use is reserved for National Customs Authorities and Associations that issue TIR Carnets, as well as for other official IRU partners involved in Risk Management. It will enable a Customs officer to query the database for information corresponding to the termination of operations on TIR Carnets, for information on invalid TIR Carnets and other relevant information. Cute-Wise is accessible with a user ID and password at cutewise.org.
Discharge of a TIR operation
Customs authorities proceed with the discharge of the TIR operation, i.e. recognition by Customs that the TIR operation has been terminated correctly in a Contracting Party according to the following procedure: the outgoing Customs office (i.e. that at the border) send the Certificate of Termination from the green voucher N° 2 to the office of departure/entry. The latter compares the received Certificate with the retained white voucher N°1. If there are no objections and no reservations by the Customs office of exit or destination, the TIR operation can be discharged by the Customs authorities.
Guaranteeing Association
Shall mean an Association approved by the Customs authorities of a TIR operational Contracting Party to act as guarantor for Holders using the TIR procedure
Haulier
A road transport operator
Heavy or bulky goods
Any heavy or bulky object which because of its weight, size or nature is not normally carried in a closed road vehicle or closed container.
HGV
Stands for Heavy Goods Vehicle and in the sense of the TIR Convention shall mean not only any power-driven road vehicle but also any trailer or semi-trailer designed to be coupled thereto.
Holder
Any haulier who has been authorized to be directly issued with TIR Carnets and to operate TIR Transports.
HS Code
The HS is the Harmonised System for Customs and statistical classification developed by the World Customs Organisation (WCO). It contains goods descriptions in English and French along with their related six-digit codes and units of measurement. The HS is used by most countries in the world as a basis for their Customs and statistical nomenclature.
HVG
‘High Value Goods’ represent a higher risk to the guarantee chain. A Holder who wishes to transit with HVG must provide an additional guarantee and must have an excellent track record. (Sometimes referred to as HRG — High Risk Goods)
Import or export duties and taxes
Customs duties and all other duties, taxes, fees and other charges which are collected on, or in connection with, the import or export of goods, but not including fees and charges limited in amount to the approximate cost of services rendered or fines and penalties.
Infringement of Customs regulations
An infringement of Customs regulations is a contravention of national Customs laws or their related regulations.
Intermodal transport (TRANS/WP.24/2000/1)
The movement of goods in one and the same loading unit or road vehicle (i.e. container), which uses successively two or more modes of transport without handling the goods themselves in changing modes. By extension, the term intermodality has been used to describe a system of transport whereby two or more modes of transport are used to transport the same loading unit or truck in an integrated, without loading or unloading, in a [door to door] transport chain. See also Combined Transport
Inward transit
Shall mean the transit operation where the vehicle and the goods have passed through the Customs office of entry in the country of destination and are on their way to the Customs office of destination in that country.
Multimodal transport (TRANS/WP.24/2000/1)
Carriage of goods by two or more modes of transport. See also combined transport and intermodal transport
NCTS(New Computerized Transit System)
The New Computerized Transit System (NCTS) is a European system, based upon electronic declaration and processing, designed to provide better management and control of Community transit. It involves all EU Member States and the EFTA countries. Each country’s own NCTS processing system is connected, through a central domain in Brussels, to all of the other countries. Since NCTS mandate of the 1 July 2005, paper transit documents are only accepted from private travelers (with goods in excess of allowances) and during NCTS fallback. Many countries are using the Minimal Common Core (MCC) software developed by the EU Commission, which provides all of the basic data capture and messaging functionality for effective connection to the European network.
Notification
Under the TIR Convention (article 11), this refers to notification by Customs to the guaranteeing Association of non-discharge of a TIR operation, and hence a possible future claim may be made by Customs for those duties and taxes considered to have been lost. No claim for Customs duties and taxes can be made unless a notification is made within one year of the TIR Carnet being taken into charge by Customs, or two years in the case of fraudulent discharge.
Outward transit
Shall mean the transit operation where the vehicle and the goods have been presented at the Customs office of departure in the country of departure and are on their way to the Customs office of exit from the same country.
Partial unloading
Where goods are partially unloaded before the final destination. The seals must be broken and new seals affixed. This must be noted on all remaining vouchers of the TIR Carnet. SafeTIR data confirming partial termination must be sent to the IRU database. Goods must have crossed an international border before being unloaded. All departures must take place before an unloading.
Pre-notification
Article 455.2 EC Regulation 2454/93 — {Only for EU} — If the Certificate of Termination of Voucher No 2 of the TIR carnet is not returned to the Customs authorities of the Member State of entry or departure within two months of the date of acceptance of the TIR Carnet, those authorities shall inform the guaranteeing Association concerned, without prejudice to the notification to be made in accordance with Article 11(1) of the TIR Convention. They shall also inform the Holder of the TIR Carnet, and shall invite both the latter and the guaranteeing Association concerned to furnish proof that the TIR operation has been terminated. Customs should check in Cute-Wise to see if there is termination information before sending the pre-notification.
Reservation
Under the terms of the TIR Convention, a reservation is placed by Customs upon a TIR Carnet in cases where an apparent discrepancy is detected, or some other infringement is suspected, leading to a potential loss of Customs duties and taxes. Examples include a discrepancy between the number of packages declared on a TIR Carnet and the number actually unloaded at a destination point, or where Customs seals have been broken prior to the arrival of the goods at the Customs office of destination.
Road vehicle
Shall mean not only any power-driven road vehicle but also any trailer or semi-trailer designed to be coupled thereto.
SafeTIR Database
This is managed by the IRU in Geneva. It contains the following information:
Data on the Issue of TIR Carnets — TIR Carnet control details, entered by the issuing Associations, when Carnets are issued to the Holder.
Termination Data — On termination of a TIR operation at an office of destination in a TIR operational country, Customs of the country of destination send details of termination to the SafeTIR database at the IRU. (WP30 Standard Format is the standard format in which termination data is prepared for transmission to the SafeTIR database)
Invalid TIR Carnets — The IRU and the Associations input to the SafeTIR database details of invalid (lost, stolen, etc) Carnets.
SafeTIR System
The SafeTIR system was designed to manage risk by allowing the traceability of TIR Carnets. It now forms Annex 10 to the TIR Convention. It is comprised of a central database, a network and a number of software applications & other tools running at Customs, Associations and IRU . See iru.org.
Souche or Counterfoil
The part of each page that remains in the TIR Carnet and that is stamped and completed by Customs at every Customs control point (departure, transit and destination).
Start of a TIR operation
Shall mean that the road vehicle, the combination of vehicles or the container have been presented for purposes of control to the Customs office of departure or entry (en route) together with the load and the TIR Carnet relating thereto and that the TIR Carnet has been accepted by the Customs office.
T documents
Those are customs transit documents (T1; T2; T2L) used for the purposes of internal or external transit carried out under the Community/Common Transit system (CT) covering transit movements between EU member states and EFTA countries.
TARIC
TARIC stands for Tarif Intégré Communautaire, the integrated common Customs tariff utilised by the European Union (EU). It is the online customs tariff database, in which are integrated all measures relating to tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. By integrating and coding these measures, the TARIC secures their uniform application by all EU Member States and gives all economic operators a clear view of all measures to be undertaken when importing or exporting goods.
Termination of a TIR operation
Shall mean that the road vehicle, the combination of vehicles or the container have been presented for purposes of control to the Customs office of destination or of exit (en route) together with the load and the TIR Carnet relating thereto. Customs will carry out the TIR Carnet formalities and checks. See the brochure ‘How to fill in a TIR Carnet’ available for download free from the IRU bookshop for more details.
TIR Carnet
Is a customs transit document under cover of which a transport of goods from (a) customs office(s) of departure to (a) Customs office(s) of destination is carried out under the procedure called ‘TIR procedure’ laid down in the TIR Convention. It guarantees the payment of Customs duties and taxes usually up to a limit of USD 50’000 / EUR60’000 per document in the countries with which a TIR operation can be established.
TIR Carnet Holder
‘Holder’ of a TIR Carnet shall mean the person to whom a TIR Carnet has been issued in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention and on whose behalf a Customs declaration has been made in the form of a TIR Carnet indicating a wish to place goods under the TIR procedure at the Customs office of departure. He shall be responsible for presentation of the road vehicle, the combination of vehicles or the container together with the load and the TIR Carnet relating thereto at the Customs office of departure, the Customs offices en route and the Customs office of destination. He must also respect all relevant provisions of the Convention.
TIR Operation
Shall mean the part of a TIR transport that is carried out in a Contracting Party from a Customs office of departure or entry (en route) to a Customs office of destination or exit (en route).
TIR Transport
Shall mean the transport of goods from a Customs office of departure to a Customs office of destination under the procedure, called the TIR procedure, laid down in the TIR Convention.
TIRExB (TIR Executive Board)
The TIR Executive Board (TIRExB) is composed of 9 members, has been established by the Contracting Parties to the Convention in 1999. Its objective is to enhance international cooperation among Customs authorities in the application of the TIR Convention and to supervise and to provide support in the application of the TIR system and the international guarantee system.
WP.30 (UNECE Working Party on Customs Questions Affecting Transport)
Participation in the WP.30 is open to all member States of the United Nations and to interested international organizations. The WP.30 adopts not legally binding comments on certain provisions of the Convention which are passed to the AC. 2 for (voting) consideration and endorsement.A
WP.30 Standard Format
The standard format in which termination data is prepared for transmission to the SafeTIR database at the IRU.
