What is TIR?

TIR stands for "Transports Internationaux Routiers" or "International Road Transports".)

UN TIR Carnet is an international transport document that allows transport of goods from the customs office of departure to the customs office of destination under the TIR procedure, defined by the TIR Convention. It is the universal customs transit system based on a UN Convention implemented at global level in Public-Private Partnership for moving goods across international border.

At the beginning of 2010 the TIR System has 68 Contracting Parties on four continents. Nowadays many more countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America have demonstrated their interest in acceding to the system in the near future.

The TIR System has proved to be extremely successful and is the only global Customs transit system in existence. The special features of the TIR regime, which offers transport operators and Customs authorities a simple, flexible, cost-effective and secure system for the international transport of goods across frontiers.

Facts about TIR

• 1 Cuts transport time by up to 40% and costs by up to 30%
• 2 Over 34,000 transport and logistics companies use TIR to quickly and reliably move goods across international borders
• 3 1.2 million TIR transports in 2017
• 4 Uses a single guarantee allowing operators to move goods in transit across any TIR countries
• 5 More than 70 signatory countries to the TIR Convention around the world
• 6 An international guarantee covers all customs duties and taxes at risk, with a maximum protection of USD 50,000 per transport operation
• 7 Is an effective tool to implement the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement and the revised Kyoto Convention
• 8 Compliant with the World Customs Organization SAFE Framework
• 9 Supports the achievement of the objectives of the revised Kyoto Convention

In the nutshell

A document issued pursuant to the TIR (Transport International Routier) permitting sealed road transport shipments to traverse European TIR-members countries without undergoing customs inspection until reaching the destination country. Each TIR Carnet has a unique reference number. A TIR Carnet may have 4, 6, 14, or 20 vouchers, as one pair of vouchers is used per country; the number of vouchers indicates the number of countries that can be transited, including the countries of departure and destination, under cover of this type of Carnet (e.g. a 20-voucher Carnet may be used for a TIR transport through up to 10 countries). Each individual TIR Carnet can be used for only one TIR transport. Once the TIR transport has been terminated at the Customs office of destination of the goods, the driver is handed back the TIR Carnet duly endorsed by the Customs authorities of destination

Isha Handa is a copywriter and content writer specialises in Carnet System. I want to help people all around the world start import-export business of their own globally!