IRU Bucharest Declaration “Emerging Markets - Challenges and Opportunities”

IRU Bucharest Declaration

“Emerging Markets - Challenges and Opportunities”

The IRU and its Member Associations representing providers of high quality, safe, reliable, efficient and environmentally responsible road transport are committed to:

Contributing to the sustainable mobility of people and goods, as well as better comfort and quality of life for all;

Uniting people and improving the distribution of wealth;

Driving economic and social development while helping developing markets to emerge for the benefit of all;

Encouraging freedom, choice and prosperity for all - the best guarantee of peace.

However, these fundamental goals will only be achieved by working together, in close co-operation, with governments, civil society, other modes of transport and industry sectors in the framework of a broad, open dialogue aimed at achieving concrete, realistic and sustainable solutions.

The IRU and its Member Associations will be better able to fulfil their commitments if the following realities are recognised by their governmental and commercial partners:

Of all the transport modes, road transport makes the greatest contribution to the generation of wealth and its better social distribution, especially in emerging markets and transition economies, yet this vital and irreplaceable role is all too often ignored;

Any attempt to “de-couple” economic and transport growth risks jeopardising the economic, social and environmental goals of sustainable development. Rather, the aim should be to “de-couple” the negative environmental effects of all transport modes from economic growth through the implementation of the IRU’s “3i” strategy, whereby governments provide real business incentives to expedite the penetration of innovative technologies and best practices, as well as adequate infrastructure to eliminate bottlenecks, missing links and the resulting congestion;

The ever-increasing demand for mobility of people and goods as well as the growing need for quality transport to satisfy expanding consumer expectations requires efficient and modern logistic and supply chains which integrate the different, complementary transport modes. Trying to force a “modal shift” from road to other forms of transport will jeopardise the political objective to develop "better transport" rather than "more transport";

Ensuring the mobility of people and goods should remain a priority for governments in accordance with numerous multilateral (e.g. GATT, GATS, convention on access to the sea for land-locked countries, Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, etc.) and bilateral agreements on free trade and international road transport. They should never use, due to their discriminatory effect, protectionist policies under the guise of environmental protection, or unbalanced safety measures as is the case in Alpine transit, as well as politically inspired, yet misguided, prohibitions on access to city centres.

Competitiveness and freedom of choice of transport modes must not be undermined by discriminatory policies aimed at penalising the road transport sector, as these merely translate into even greater penalties, not only for the economy, but also for the environment, because often no viable cost-effective transport alternatives exist;

Artificial barriers to trade and tourism must be pulled down to facilitate cross-border traffic by increasing throughput capacities, reducing unnecessary, repetitive, burdensome paperwork and taxation for passengers, goods and vehicles, as well as minimising onerous visa formalities for professional drivers and improving the efficiency and security of customs transit systems by reinforcing the partnership between governments and transport, trade and tourism;

Fair and efficient fiscal treatment of the road transport industry, which should be harmonised internationally as road user charges are introduced; this should be supported by a standardised technical platform for toll collection and accompanied by corresponding fair and efficient public investment in road transport infrastructures and systems;

In light of the growing competition in the road transport sector and the consequent reductions in profitability and sometimes even quality in service which can be provided, access to the road transport profession must be based on more rigorous qualitative criteria to ensure that every fleet operator is a real professional, able to provide a quality service to the economy while also improving road safety, thereby achieving the goal of sustainable mobility; and

International harmonisation of all social and technical conditions governing competition should contribute to creating an equal chance in the market for all actors, thereby increasing economic and social integration, as well as the prosperity of countries and regions.

While calling on road transport's governmental and commercial partners to play their part, in this Declaration, the IRU and its Member Associations pledge to a renewed contract with society as a whole to provide efficient, high quality road transport services which permit economic growth and employment, through the development of trade and tourism, as well as social progress, environmental protection, international integration and mobility of passengers and goods not only in emerging markets, but in all countries.

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Bucharest, 1 June 2002

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