HAZCHEM Catalogue - Flipbook - Page 179
ADR
What is ADR?
ADR is the acronym given to The European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage
of Dangerous Goods by Road, which was made at Geneva in 1957 by United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe, and amended April 1985. The key article in the agreement is the second,
which says that apart from some excessively dangerous goods, other dangerous goods may be carried internationally
in road vehicles subject to compliance with:
• the conditions laid down in Annex A for the goods in question, in particular as regards their packaging and
labelling; and
• the conditions laid down in Annex B, in particular as regards the construction, equipment and operation of the
vehicle carrying the goods in question.
Annexes A and B have been regularly amended and updated since the entry into force of ADR. These annexes were
entirely revised and restructured between 1992 and 2000, and a first version of the restructured annexes entered into
force on 1 July 2001.
What goods are classified as ‘Dangerous’ for carriage by road?
The classes of dangerous goods according to ADR are the following:
Class Number
Substance / Article Description
Class 1
Explosive substances and articles
Class 2
Gases
Class 3
Flammable liquids
Class 4.1
Flammable solids, self-reactive substances, polymerizing substances and solid desensitised explosives
Class 4.2
Substances liable to spontaneous combustion
Class 4.3
Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases
Class 5.1
Oxidising substances
Class 5.2
Organic peroxides
Class 6.1
Toxic substances
Class 6.2
Infectious substances
Class 7
Radioactive material
Class 8
Corrosive substances
Class 9
Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles
Each entry in the different classes has been assigned a unique, 4-digit UN number, which may be either specific to an
individual substance or collective to a product or substance type. The UN numbers are assigned to different transport
categories from 0 to 4 and this will influence the maximum amount of the goods that can be carried at any one time.
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