Background

At the beginning of the 1990s, geopolitical changes, a tremendous increase in trade volumes and in the number of road hauliers performing TIR transports caused an increase in the risk of fraud perpetrated by organised crime. Access to the TIR system was therefore strictly controlled, and the Administrative Committee for the TIR Convention adopted a Recommendation on 20 October 1995 which set out an electronic control system for TIR Carnets.  This control system was included in the TIR Convention as Annex 10 on 12 August 2006, and is commonly referred to as the SafeTIR system.

The SafeTIR System

The SafeTIR system provides Customs worldwide and the national TIR Associations with details on the Holder and the TIR Carnet data and forms one of the risk management measures that are essential for preserving the security of the TIR System.  It also provides confirmation from the Customs offices of destination of the final or partial termination of the TIR Carnet, to enable comparison of this electronic confirmation against the paper-based termination in the TIR Carnet.  This utility can be accessed online at http://www.cutewise.org/. The username and password must be requested from the IRU at safeTIR@iru.org.

IRU TIR-EPD

Another leg of computer security is composed of the IRU TIR Electronic Pre-Declaration (IRU TIR-EPD). One of the drivers of this initiative is that from the 1st of January 2009 each transport that enters the European Union will have to submit an Electronic Pre-Declaration. The IRU has designed a tool in order for the elements of a transport under the TIR System to be easily collected through a web application and submitted to the Customs office of entry into the EU (or another country). The IRU TIR pre-declaration website is accessible through the following link http://www.tirepd.org/. If you need more information about this topic please send an e-mail to the IRU.