Dangerous Goods by Road
When the consignor acts on behalf of a third party, the latter shall inform the consignor in writing that
dangerous goods are involved and make available to him all the information and documents he needs
to perform his obligations.
Carrier
In the context of 1.4.1, where appropriate, the carrier shall in particular:
(a) Ascertain that the dangerous goods to be carried are authorized for carriage in accordance with
ADR;
(b) Ascertain that all information prescribed in ADR related to the dangerous goods to be carried
has been provided by the consignor before carriage, that the prescribed documentation is on
board the transport unit or if electronic data processing (EDP) or if electronic data interchange
(EDI) techniques are used instead of paper documentation, that data is available during
transport in a manner at least equivalent to that of paper documentation;
(c) Ascertain visually that the vehicles and loads have no obvious defects, leakages or cracks,
missing equipment, etc.;
(d) Ascertain that the deadline for the next test for tank-vehicles, battery-vehicles, demountable
tanks, portable tanks, tank-containers and MEGCs has not expired;
NOTE: Tanks, battery-vehicles and MEGCs may however be carried after the expiry of this
deadline under the conditions of 4.1.6.10 (in the case of battery-vehicles and MEGCs
containing pressure receptacles as elements), 4.2.4.4, 4.3.2.3.7, 4.3.2.4.4, 6.7.2.19.6, 6.7.3.15.6
or 6.7.4.14.6.
(e) verify that the vehicles are not overloaded;
(f) ascertain that the placards, marks and orange-coloured plates prescribed for the vehicles in
Chapter 5.3 have been affixed;
(g) ascertain that the equipment prescribed in ADR for the transport unit, vehicle crew and certain
classes is on board the transport unit.
Where appropriate, this shall be done on the basis of the transport documents and accompanying
documents, by a visual inspection of the vehicle or the containers and, where appropriate, the load.
The carrier may, however, in the case of 1.4.2.2.1 (a), (b), (e) and (f), rely on information and data
made available to him by other participants.
If the carrier observes an infringement of the requirements of ADR, in accordance with 1.4.2.2.1, he
shall not forward the consignment until the matter has been rectified.
If, during the journey, an infringement which could jeopardize the safety of the operation is observed,
the consignment shall be halted as soon as possible bearing in mind the requirements of traffic safety,
of the safe immobilisation of the consignment, and of public safety. The transport operation may only
be continued once the consignment complies with applicable regulations. The competent
authority(ies) concerned by the rest of the journey may grant an authorization to pursue the transport
operation.
In case the required compliance cannot be achieved and no authorization is granted for the rest of the
journey, the competent authority(ies) shall provide the carrier with the necessary administrative
assistance. The same shall apply in case the carrier informs this/these competent authority(ies) that the
dangerous nature of the goods carried was not communicated to him by the consignor and that he
wishes, by virtue of the law applicable in particular to the contract of carriage, to unload, destroy or
render the goods harmless.
(Reserved)
The carrier shall provide the vehicle crew with the instructions in writing as prescribed in ADR.
Consignee
The consignee has the obligation not to defer acceptance of the goods without compelling reasons and
to verify, after unloading, that the requirements of ADR concerning him have been complied with.
If, in the case of a container, this verification brings to light an infringement of the requirements of
ADR, the consignee shall return the container to the carrier only after the infringement has been
remedied.
If the consignee makes use of the services of other participants (unloader, cleaner, decontamination
facility, etc.) he shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the requirements of 1.4.2.3.1 and
1.4.2.3.2 of ADR have been complied with.
Obligations of the other participants
A non-exhaustive list of the other participants and their respective obligations is given below. The
obligations of the other participants flow from section 1.4.1 above insofar as they know or should
have known that their duties are performed as part of a transport operation subject to ADR.
Loader
In the context of 1.4.1, the loader has the following obligations in particular:
(a) He shall hand the dangerous goods over to the carrier only if they are authorized for carriage in
accordance with ADR;
(b) He shall, when handing over for carriage packed dangerous goods or uncleaned empty
packagings, check whether the packaging is damaged. He shall not hand over a package the
packaging of which is damaged, especially if it is not leakproof, and there are leakages or the
possibility of leakages of the dangerous substance, until the damage has been repaired; this
obligation also applies to empty uncleaned packagings;
(c) He shall comply with the special requirements concerning loading and handling;
(d) He shall, after loading dangerous goods into a container comply with the requirements
concerning placarding, marking and orange-coloured plates conforming to Chapter 5.3;
(e) He shall, when loading packages, comply with the prohibitions on mixed loading taking into
account dangerous goods already in the vehicle or large container and requirements concerning
the separation of foodstuffs, other articles of consumption or animal feedstuffs.