After being contacted by several of its members concerning driving regulations and unwarranted fines, IRU has clarified formalities for humanitarian transport.
In the aftermath of the earthquake in Syria and Türkiye, IRU has been contacted by several of its members with a request to clarify driving and rest time rule obligations related to humanitarian transport operations.
According to the provisions of the AETR Agreement, which is the European agreement concerning the work of crews of vehicles engaged in international road transport, vehicles transporting non-commercial humanitarian aid transport are exempted from driving and rest time rules as well as the use of tachographs.
Following IRU’s request, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Group of Experts on AETR have now confirmed IRU’s interpretation and reaffirmed that trucks transporting humanitarian aid are exempted from typical rest time rules and the use of tachographs.
When trucks and drivers involved in humanitarian transports resume their commercial operations, they must once again follow driving and rest time rules provisions. Drivers must also be able to show evidence of their previous activities transporting humanitarian relief to control authorities.
To do so, according to the AETR Agreement, vehicles transporting non-commercial humanitarian aid must use a dedicated “attestation form” to document the fact that the vehicle and driver were involved in out-of-scope operations, and to retroactively add the out-of-scope humanitarian activities to the tachograph.
IRU members and the wider road transport community in Syria and Türkiye are continuing to support relief and recovery operations.