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Recently India received its first shipment under the United Nations ‘Transports Internationaux Routiers’ (TIR) convention from Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar Port.

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• The consignments arrived at port of Nhava Sheva, Mumbai and Mundra.
• India had joined the TIR Convention (the United Nations Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets) in June 2017.
• The convention allows goods to be outlined in a TIR carnet and sealed in load compartments.
• Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has been appointed as National Issuing & Guaranteeing Association for TIR carnets to be issued by India.
• The system is managed worldwide by the International Road Transport Union (IRU), Geneva and overseen by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

What is UNCCITG-TIR Carnets?

• The Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets, 1975 (TIR Convention), is an international transit system under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
• It is one of the most successful international transport conventions and is so far the only universal Customs transit system in existence.
• It aims to facilitate the seamless movement of goods within and amongst the Parties to the Convention.
• At present there are 76 parties to the Convention, including the European Union.
• It covers the whole of Europe, North Africa and Middle East.

What is so special about TIR convention?

• It facilitates the international carriage of goods from one or more customs offices of departure to one or more customs offices of destination (up to a total of four customs offices departure and destination) and through as many countries as necessary.
• As a rule, the vehicle remains sealed throughout the TIR transport and, thus, goods are generally not inspected at border crossings.
• However, customs authorities remain entitled to perform inspections whenever they suspect irregularities or randomly.

Is it only applicable to road transport?

• The Convention applies to transports with road vehicles, combinations of vehicles as well as containers and allows for the use of the TIR Carnet for all modes of transport, provided that some portion of the journey is made by road.

What is TIR Carnet?

• A document issued pursuant to the TIR permitting sealed road transport shipments to traverse European TIR-members countries without undergoing customs inspection until reaching the destination country.
• Each TIR Carnet has a unique reference number.
• Each individual TIR Carnet can be used for only one TIR transport.