IX.1.1. Background and legislation

Article 226, paragraph 3, letter b), and Article 227, paragraph 2, letter b), of the UCC

The TIR procedure is primarily regulated by the Customs Convention on the International Carriage of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets (1975 TIR Convention), drawn up under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The TIR Convention was approved on behalf of the European Union by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2112/78 of 25 July 1978 and entered into force for the Union on 20 June 1983. A consolidated version of the TIR Convention has been published as an annex to Council Decision 2009/477/EC of 28 May 2009. The Convention is updated periodically, and the Commission publishes the corresponding amendments in the Official Journal of the European Union, indicating their date of entry into force.

The UCC, in its implementing act (Articles 163 to 164, 167 to 168 and 274 to 282) and in its delegated act (Articles 184 and 186 to 187), describes the internal Union rules relating to the movement of goods within the Union under the TIR procedure.

As of 17 July 2020, the TIR Convention had 76 Contracting Parties, including the European Union and its 27 Member States. However, TIR operations can only be carried out in countries with authorized guarantor associations (63 countries as of January 23, 2020).

In accordance with Union legislation, the TIR procedure may be used within the Union only for transit operations with a point of departure or destination outside the Union's customs territory or for those carried out from one point to another within the Union's customs territory passing through the territory of a third country.