The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2004

The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2004 - laid in Parliament on 16^th April - came into force on 10^th May 2004.

Full publication details are as follows:

• Statutory Instrument number - SI 2004/568,
• ISBN 0 11 049063 0, price £9.
• Copies of the Regulations are available from HMSO, and printed copies can be purchased from The Stationery Office Ltd (TSO) PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN, telephone - 0870 6005522, fax - 0870 600 5533, e-mail book.orders@tso.co.uk.

These new Regulations act as one consolidated piece of legislation replacing the previous range of regulations. They implement Commission Directives 2003/28/EC, 2003/29/EC and complete the implementation of Council Directive 1999/36/EC (fuller details below). They directly reference the 2003 texts of the international agreements - RID for rail, ADR for road.

The Regulations implement Council Directive 94/55/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road (as amended by Directive 2000/61/EC and Commission Directive 2003/28/EC). This Directive applies the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) (Current Edition: 2003).

The Regulations implement Council Directive 96/49/EC on the approximation of the laws of Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail (as amended by Directive 2000/62/EC and Commission Directive 2003/29/EC). This Directive applies the Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail ("RID") which form Annex 1 to Appendix B to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (Current Edition: 2003).

The Regulations fully implement Council Directive 1999/36/EC concerning transportable pressure equipment ("the Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive").

The main changes include:

• new limited quantity and load thresholds for transporting dangerous goods;
• packaging requirements now based on RID/ADR;
• the transport of diesel, gas oil and heating oil coming fully into scope;
• new reporting requirements; and
• the phasing out of the competent person periodic inspection regime for transportable pressure equipment by 1/7/06.

The Regulations take account of national derogations agreed with the European Commission in respect of certain transport operations involving local journeys or the movement of dangerous goods in small quantities. They carry forward the mandatory Emergency Action Code system for placarding certain GB-registered vehicles on GB journeys. The Regulations will be supported by a number of letters of authorisation allowing time-limited relaxations to some requirements.

From 1 July 2004 single free copies of the leaflet (product code 04DFT01) will be available from DfT Publications, PO Box 236, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7NB. Tel 0870 1226 236; Fax 0870 1226 237. The leaflet will also be available from DfT Publications in priced packs of four for £5 (ISBN 1 904763 47 2).

Revocations

The Regulations completely revoke the following.

• The Gas Cylinders (Pattern Approval) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/116)
• The Pressure Vessels (Verification) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 1988/896)
• The Packaging of Explosives for Carriage Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/2097)
• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Classification, Packaging and Labelling) and Use of Transportable Pressure Receptacles Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/2092)
• The Carriage of Explosives by Road Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/2093)
• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (Driver Training) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/2094)
• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/2885)
• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/303)
• The Transport of Dangerous Goods (Safety Advisers) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/257)
• The Transportable Pressure Vessels Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/1426)
• The Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002 /2099)
• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Transportable Pressure Vessels (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/1431)

and other provisions.

The Regulations partially revoke the following:

• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/2089)
  Regulations 1, 2, 5 to 34 and the Schedules are revoked.

• The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/2095)
  Regulations 1 to 4, 7 to 19, 21 to 29 and the Schedules are revoked.