IRU General Assembly calls for greater security for road transport operators, stressing the need for competent authorities to effectively apply international conventions relating to road transport security.

Geneva – The IRU General Assembly today unanimously adopted a Resolution on Road Transport Security in the Supply Chain, calling upon governments to better implement and enforce all international conventions relating to road transport security. The Resolution calls for cooperation with national and international industry organisations, in order to effectively fight organised crime, since road networks have always been vulnerable and subject to such security threats.

A joint IRU-ITF survey on attacks on international drivers, conducted in more than 35 European, Balkan and Central-Asian countries, has shown that 1 in 6 drivers (17%) has suffered at least one attack in 5 years. 42% of the attacks took place in truck parking areas, 66% of which occurred between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am.

The survey estimated the total direct cost of these attacks extrapolated to the whole international driver population in Europe at more than € 7 billion, not including indirect expenses, the value of lost business opportunities or consequences of the human suffering. 

The IRU Resolution thus calls upon competent authorities to urgently develop and implement political, legal and practical instruments to remedy this situation by:

·         Applying all necessary prevention measures to fight criminal activities faced by drivers at national and international levels and put an end to the related human suffering and economic losses, notably by developing a network of secure parking areas and informing the IRU accordingly of their location;

Encouraging transport operators to report each incident to the enforcement authorities and refer all occurrences of theft / assault to national and, when necessary, international jurisdictions, and effectively prosecute perpetrators of criminal acts;
Strengthen the implementation and enforcement of international conventions, including the TIR Convention, as the best multilateral legal instrument to comply with the security requirements of the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards.

Read Resolution on Road Transport Security in the Supply Chain

Read Attacks on Drivers of International HGVs – Facts & Figures