About Transport of Dangerous Goods

The UN runs the systems for the Transport of Dangerous Goods, which cover a variety of modes (types of transport).

In Europe, road is covered by ADR (via the Orange Book); IMDG covers sea transport; IATA covers air transport; and ADN covers inland waterways such as rivers, lakes and canals. Rail is covered by Appendix C of the Convention Covering International Carriage by Rail – International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail.

Transport of Dangerous Goods (TDG) is highly prescriptive, and updated in odd years.  Implementation is required for all countries using the system in a fixed period, so everyone should use the same version of the system.

TDG covers bulk chemicals as well as packaged chemicals, and this means that packaged goods can be classified for both Transport and Supply (CLP-GHS).

The current version of ADR is 2017: ADR2017e_web , and the current version of the Manual of Tests and Criteria is Rev. 6, 2015: Manual of Tests and Criteria Rev 6 2015 .  Note that you should check for any amendments to these documents at the UNECE website at https://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/adr/adr2017/17contentse0.html and http://www.unece.org/trans/areas-of-work/dangerous-goods/legal-instruments-and-recommendations/un-manual-of-tests-and-criteria/rev6-files.html respectively.