8th IRU Symposium of Lawyers addresses security challenges faced by road transport operators and stresses the need for further simplification, harmonisation and better enforcement of existing legislation to improve trade and road transport security.

Geneva – Some 60 lawyers, professors, insurers and Transport Ministry representatives specialised in transport law and insurance issues from around 20 countries participated today in the 8th IRU Symposium of Lawyers, Members of the IRU International Legal Assistance Network, to discuss Security in road transport throughout the supply chain and explore the means to enhance trade and road transport security. 

 Chairing the Symposium, the President of the IRU Commission on Legal Affairs (CAJ), Isabelle BON-GARCIN, stressed: “Security-related issues are extremely important to our industry as road transport networks have always been vulnerable and subject to attacks on a daily basis. Solutions must be found to remedy this situation, in particular at legal and political levels”.

Topics discussed by participants included:

the current difficulties faced by transport operators and drivers in terms of recurrent attacks on roads and parking areas as well as infringements to the free movement of people; 

the fluctuating justice concerning theft of vehicles and goods, ranging from no responsibility to the full liability of transport operators; and 

the Conditions to be met by transport operators to have their liabilities covered by insurers. 

The participants concluded that in order to enhance security, priority must be given to simplifying, harmonising, and improving the enforcement of existing rules and regulations rather than implementing new ones, citing for example the TIR Convention as the best existing multilateral instrument to implement the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards, including AEO status. 

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See the presentations of the 8th Symposium of Lawyers

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