On March 13–14 in Moscow within the framework of the state-private partnership of the International Road Union (IRU), the World Customs Organization and the RF Federal Customs Service, as well as with the support of ECE UN and Russian Association of International Road carriers ASMAP, an international conference "Contribution of the TIR System into Securing Safety of Transport and Commerce" was held. Participants of the conference were speaking about the way how the TIR System elements of securing safety, inclusive controlled access to the system, mutual acknowledgement of the Authorized Economic Operators and advanced information on the freight can serve for implementing the framework standards of the World Customs Organization directed to securing of safety and development of international commerce.

 Is it safe?

 The conference was attended by General Secretary of IRU Martin Marmi, President of ASMAP Yury Sukhin, as well as General Secretary of the World Customs Organization (WCĪ) Michel Dane, as well as a representative of the Federal Customs Service of Russia.

 According to President of the Latvian Transport Union Vladimir Zvonarev, the TIR safety issues were considered in the aspect of the WCO framework standards, which, as it sounded at the conference, allow creating any guarantee chains, inclusive regional ones, in contrast to the currently implemented practice of the TIR monopoly.

 There were a lot of interesting issues discussed at the conference, however, regrettably, some reports of representatives of national guarantee unions were purely formal reports on the process of work on toughening requirements to access of new transport operators to the market and on control over using TIR carnets, etc.

 Speaking about the speeches directed towards revealing of new opportunities of the TIR system and its capability to adapt to new conditions, a report of the head of Safe TIR (IRU) Andrea Graf Gruber can be noted, who represented a pilot project NCTS/TIR, which is, actually, an attempt of modernizing the TIR system aimed at providing an opportunity of data transfer in electronic format. If as far as three years ago administration of IRU was rejecting the very idea of this project, now the situation has changed, as TIR carnet in the form a paper carrier has obviously become obsolete, and users offer a lot of interesting alternative ideas, inclusive a special form of the declaration anticipated by the general transit procedure.

 In the speech of Christian Piaget, Director of the TIR External Relations Department, devoted to usage of the Safe-TIR system developed by the RF FCS Computer Information Center and applied to protect the TIR system from cases of non-supply of the goods or other violations, it was also told about the necessity of electronic declaration and expansion of capabilities of operators using the TIR system in compliance with the WCO Framework Safety Standards.

 Representative of the RF FCS General Directorate of the Customs Control Organization Konstantin Syaskov notified on the results of analyzing the practice of applying the TIR procedure, emphasizing deficiencies existing in the TIR system, and, firstly, these are fraud cases related to providing inadequate data on the goods, inclusive understatement of the invoice value. Thus, according to Mr. Syaskov, during the recent period, in the conditions of growing volumes of trade and usage of TIR carnets in the , the number of such revealed violations has doubled. It is sufficient to say that, according to the last year results, three million TIR carnets were closed in !

 Latvian Customs also have to deal with various kinds of violations. Thus, they have repeatedly stated that to carry smuggled goods, drivers often use different freight compartments. Therefore, the Customs overtook from the Latvian Association of International Road Carriers Latvijas Auto the functions of control over fulfillment of requirements on certification of vehicles.

 e-TIR for the future

 The conference participants displayed great interest in the report of Konstantin Glukhenky, (Transport Department, TIR Secretariat, ECE UN), who, due to profound understanding of the very essence of the Convention, came to the conclusion that the current TIR system does not fully meet the requirements anticipated by the Framework Safety Standards of TIR Convention. Mr Glukhenky presented an electronic version of TIR (e-TIR) to the conference participants. In the opinion of the reporter, the future perspective is exactly in introduction of e-TIR and the TIR computerized procedure.

 Mr Glukhenky also indicated to the possibility of new states joining the TIR system, inclusive China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, as, with Romania and Bulgaria entering the EU, a part of the carnets volume used by them, which according to the data announced at the conference made up to 800,000 carnets a year, has dropped out of the turnover. As a result, the need for new markets has appeared.

 The issues of applying TIR in multimodal transportations were also touched upon; however, regrettably, up to now there have been no specific initiatives in this direction on the part of IRU. Summing up, it can be said that every speech indicated that the TIR system needs to be improved.

 System revision needed

 In the framework of the round-table discussion, Mr Zvonarev stepped forward with a statement that the TIR system is ill, not modified in compliance with new realia, and usage of the TIR system only by road operators – without access of other operators to it – contradicts both to the very principles of the Convention and to the WCO Framework Safety Standards. "Moreover, – continues Mr Zvonarev, – the public organization, as IRU actually is the one, is not authorized to take the prosecutor's functions in the process of control over transport operators, hence, the TIR system needs democratization. Otherwise, it will be adapted by the new states, and in the "old" states of the TIR system alternative systems will appear, inclusive the aforesaid general transit procedure, which will be introduced to optimize control, to secure possibility of electronic information exchange between the Customs services, to take decisions fast, to provide access to the market for new decent operators, as well as to create alternative guarantee chains.

 Mr Glukhenky very punctually and reasonably presented the position of the Economic Commission for Europe , which is the main regulatory body of the TIR Convention with regards to its usage by other operators, as well as confirmed that the guarantee chains can be created by other organizations as well, inclusive banks, insurance companies, logistic and warehouse centers. The most important thing is that, hereto, the spirit of Convention is to be observed and reliability of payments anticipated by the Customs bodies of different states is to be secured. This way Mr. Glukhenky confirmed the possibility of creating the guarantee chains or unions within the framework of the Convention.

 Alternative put forward

 Vladimir Zvonarev: "Being the president of the Latvian Transport Union, which is supported by quite a large group of transport operators, I intend to break the conception of inviolability of monopoly of the Latvijas Auto association and to start implementation of the programm, which can figuratively be called Democratization, Demonopolization and Trust. This means that we will need to go through all these stages related to membership in IRU or acquiring permission to work in the TIR system without entering IRU. We offer cooperation within the framework of the letter and the spirit of the Convention, the WCO Safety Standards, but, if we receive a negative reply, we shall go along the way of creating the guarantee chain. Therefore, the operators wishing to work with TIR at the Russian market can turn to the Latvian Transport Union. Corresponding to the received reply – either a positive or a negative one, we will introduce corrections into our plans, with the support of transport companies, in order to implement the trend of activity, which has received approval from regulatory bodies of the Economic Commission for Europe, the Federal Customs Service and other organizations (not in order to facilitate some procedures and to create an opportunity of violating them, but to secure access to the market for all who wish – on condition of sufficiency of control and observation of all the anticipated measures of control, as well as in accordance with the one anticipated within the framework of the World Trade Organization).

 Any monopoly, in the opinion of Mr Zvonarev, first of all, works for itself. Moreover, within the monopoly frames the influence of a subjective factor is increasing (I do not like your looks, so I will not let you get to the TIR system). In their turn, creation of alternative guarantee chains will provide an opportunity for transport operators, as well as logisticians and operators to make use of different systems of guarantees anticipated by the Convention, which they currently do not have access to, due to the existing monopoly of the TIR system (for instance, compulsory payments and non-acceptance of bank guarantees, insurance polices).

 At the same time, the Latvian Transport Union will not be an analog of the already available organization. This is primarily proved by the fact that its members can be not only road transport operators, but also any transport operators meeting all criteria of the Convention and correctly applying all degrees of protection.

 Vladimir Zvonarev: "Advantage of the Latvian Transport Union is also in its considerable experience in the field of arranging the Training Center operation, which according to the last year results has been acknowledged as one of the best in on all indices, and, primarily, on efficiency of training according to the Certificate of Professional Competency programme.

 If we are formally created any obstacles and IRU refuses from our outstretched hand, we will anyway go along the intended way. We will gain our ends. Our actions are motivated by a profound knowledge of the TIR Convention, understanding of its spirit and essence, and, what is more important, approval received from the corresponding competent institutions".

 There are nowhere else such strict criteria on selecting transport operators and excluding the violators from the regime. Constant changes of rules for equipping freight compartments, appearance of new kinds and models of freight vehicles, including side-curtain tents and fiber-optic lines – all these contribute to modification of the Convention as well.

 Therefore, all transport operators (we wish to encompass not just Latvian companies, and not just road hauliers, but also insurance companies, logistics service providers and other market players), who are interested in performing operations with TIR in the Russian market, and whose activities abide with frame standards of WTO may contact Latvian Transport Union by phone: +37129214708."