BSEC
PERMIT USER GUIDE 2010
GUIDE
FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND TRANSPORT OPERATORS ON THE USE OF THE BSEC PERMIT
Preamble
On
25 June 1992, the Heads of State and Government of eleven countries: Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and
Ukraine signed in Istanbul the Summit Declaration and the Bosphorus
Statement giving birth to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). Later in
April 2004, the Republic of Serbia became the 12th Member State
of the Organization.
Since
its inception, BSEC paid special attention to cooperation in transport focusing
mainly on how to utilize effectively intra-region capacity and growing transit
potential of the Black Sea region. In 1992,
the BSEC established the Working Group on Transport, which has its regular
meetings and it carries out its functions as a working organ of this
cooperation.
The
meetings of the Ministers of Transport of the BSEC Member States constitute de-facto
a decision making regular high-level transport forum with its mechanism of
implementation - working group, steering committees and expert groups.
Besides,
the work on actual facilitation of road transport of goods is going on under a
special Memorandum of Understanding on Facilitation of Road Transport of Goods
in the BSEC Region (signed in Kyiv in 2002 and entered into force on 20 July
2006). The Steering Committee, which was established by the signatories Member
States in accordance with this MoU, works on very
important issues such as the simplification of visa procedures for professional
truck drivers, gradual liberalization of bilateral and transit road transport,
promotion and implementation of key UN conventions and international
agreements, harmonization of social rules applicable to the crews of trucks,
monitoring of border waiting times, introduction of the International Vehicle
Weight Certificate, harmonization of charging policies, etc.
At
the 4th meeting of the Steering Committee in Istanbul on 9 September 2009 seven
Member States, namely Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and
Turkey expressed their interest and readiness to participate in a Pilot Project
of the BSEC Permit. The BSEC Permit will be a single document printed and
distributed by the BSEC PERMIS in an amount and according to the usage rules as
agreed upon at the abovementioned meeting of the Steering Committee.
In
this connection Participating Member States mandated the BSEC PERMIS to print
1,400 BSEC Permits and distribute 200 copies to each of the Participating
Member States within November 2009. It is the duty of competent authorities of
each Participating
Member State
to deliver according to their own criteria, these BSEC Permits to their
national transport operators.
The
BSEC Permit is used for a single round trip only and the empty or loaded trucks
holding such a BSEC Permit will be allowed during this single round trip to
transit through the territories of all Participating Member States without
having to present any other bilateral transit permit.
The
1,400 BSEC Permits will be printed and distributed by the BSEC PERMIS in
November 2009, and stay in force from 1st January 2010 until 31st January 2011.
The
BSEC PERMIS will monitor the usage of the BSEC Permits in 2010 and take note of
any bottlenecks and make a detailed statistical analysis of the actual usage,
which will be presented to the Steering Committee for detailed consideration.
The Steering Committee then will make a final decision to continue or
discontinue the BSEC Permit in the future.
This
User Guide was prepared and printed in collaboration by the BSEC PERMIS, the
IRU and the BSEC-URTA in order to provide detailed information about main
principles and usage guide rules of the BSEC Permit, which will be created and
implemented among the Participating Member States in
2010 as a Pilot Project.
Chapter
1: Definitions
The
definitions of the terms are as follows:
- BSEC: The Organization of Black Sea
Economic Cooperation.
- Member State: A country, which is a member of the BSEC
Organization.
- Non Member State: A country, which is not a member of the
BSEC Organization.
- Participating
Member State: Any
country, which is a member of the BSEC Organization and participates in
the BSEC Transit Permit Project.
- Registration
Country: The country, where the subject vehicle is
registered as mentioned on the registration plate of the vehicle.
- BSEC
Permit: The permit, which is valid for a single
round journey in transit through the territories of Participating Member
Stat and has a specific validity period.
- Competent
Authority: The Authority in a Participating Member
State, which is
authorized to carry out activities related to the present BSEC Permit.
- Multilateral
character: The possibility of using the BSEC Permit
for runs through Participating Member States, other than the country of
establishment of the transport company.
- International
carriage: A journey by a laden or unladen
vehicle, whose points of departure or arrival are in two different
countries, with transit through one or more Member or non-Member
countries; in the latter case, the BSEC Permit is
obviously not valid on the territory of the non-member country.
- Transport
for hire or reward: A transport operation performed
by a transport undertaking for remuneration.
- Transport
for own account: Transport that is not for hire
or reward, certified by documents on board the vehicle.
- Third
Country Transport: Transport of a good from a
country, which is not the Registration Country of the vehicle to a country
other than the Registration Country.
- Cabotage: A road transport operation, where goods are loaded and unloaded at
two separate points within one country by a vehicle, which is registered
in another country.
- Transport
undertaking (transport operator, carrier, haulier):
Any individual or corporate entity exercising the
profession of international carrier of goods by road and who is duly
authorized to perform international transport operations by the competent
authority in the country of establishment.
- Transit:
A journey across the territory of a country in
which goods are neither loaded nor unloaded.
- Vehicle:
A motor vehicle registered in a Member country,
or a combination of coupled vehicles in which at least the motor vehicle
is registered in a Member country and exclusively intended for the
carriage of goods. The vehicle can be the property of the transport
undertaking or can be put at its disposal through a hiring or leasing
contract.
- Hired
vehicle: Any vehicle, which, for remuneration and
for a given period, is held by an undertaking that engages in the carriage
of goods by road for hire or reward or for its own account by virtue of a
hiring or leasing contract with the undertaking that owns the vehicle.
- Contingent:
the number of permits made available every year
to a Participating
Member State.
The principles for the calculation of this contingent are set up by the
BSEC Steering Committee for Facilitation of Road Transport of Goods in the
BSEC Region.
- PERMIS:
the Permanent International Secretariat of the
BSEC Organization.
- State
(Country) of establishment: Participating Member
State, where the haulier/haulage company is
legally established.
- IRU: The International Road
Transport Union.
- BSEC-URTA:
The Union of
Road Transport Associations in the BSEC Region.
Chapter 2: Issuance and limits
The
BSEC Permit is a multilateral permit established by the Participating Member
States for the international carriage of goods by road for hire or reward by
transport undertakings using vehicles registered in a Participating BSEC
Member State.
It is established for a transport operation being performed in transit through
the territory of one or more Participating BSEC Member States. The BSEC Permit
does not allow loading/ unloading operations within the territory of the
Participating BSEC Member States. The BSEC Permit does not allow the Third
Country Transport operations. The BSEC Permit does not allow Cabotage. The BSEC Permit is printed and distributed to the
Participant BSEC Member States by the PERMIS. The BSEC Permit is printed
bilingually in English and Russian languages. When a journey is undertaken
using a coupled combination of vehicles, the BSEC Permit is obtained from the
competent Authority in the country in which the tractor is registered. The BSEC
Permit covers the coupled combination of vehicles, even if the trailer or the
semi-trailer is not registered in the name of the holder of the transport
license, or is registered in another Member
State. If goods are
transported via a BSEC country where the use of the BSEC Permit is restricted,
the said country may be transited with a bilateral permit, ECMT permit or some
other means of transport (including rolling road) according to the bilateral
arrangements agreed upon by the authorities of the subject country and the
country of registration.
Chapter 3: Usage
A
BSEC Permit may be used by only one vehicle (coupled combination of vehicles).
It has to be carried on board the vehicle during a full round trip. It does not
exempt the carrier from requirements relating to any other authorizations for
the carriage of exceptional loads in terms of size or weight or for specific
categories of goods (for example, dangerous goods). A BSEC Permit may be used
for vehicles hired or leased without a driver, by the transport undertaking to
which it has been issued. The vehicle must be at the exclusive disposal of the
undertaking using it when hired and must be driven by the staff of this
undertaking. The BSEC Permit may not be transferred by an undertaking to a
third party. The following documents must be carried on board the vehicle: the
contract of hire or lease, or a certified conformed extract from that contract
giving in particular the name of lessor, name of the
lessee, the date and duration of the contract and registration number of the
vehicle. Where the driver is not the person hiring the vehicle, the
driver’s employment contract or certified extract from that contract
giving in particular the name of the employer, the name of the employee and the
date and duration of the employment contract or a recent salary payment
receipt. If need be, equivalent documents issued by Competent Authorities of
the member country may serve as replacements for the documents referred to
above. The documents should also at least be translated as an annex in English
or Russian.
Chapter 4: Validity and withdrawal
The
BSEC Permit is valid for one calendar year from 1st January to 31 December of
the year marked inside the box ’’Validity’’ on the
front page. However, any remaining permits shall stay in use and be accepted by
the Participating BSEC Member States until 31 January of the next calendar
year. The BSEC Permit is invalid if the following mandatory particulars are not
entered on it indelibly: name or business name and full address of the
transport undertaking, signature and stamp of the body issuing the permit,
validity year, date of issue of the permit. The BSEC Permit known as lost,
replaced but found later is not valid anymore. In cases where a BSEC Permit is
lost or stolen, the issuing Authority or body must be notified by the holder,
immediately. In this regard the issuing authority or body will notify the BSEC
PERMIS, which will circulate this information to the other Participating BSEC
Member States as soon as possible. The BSEC Permit must be returned to the
Issuing Authority or body within two weeks which follow the expiry of its
validity. If a Participating BSEC Member State has introduced restrictions
related to noise and exhaust emissions on the usage of the BSEC Permit on its
territory (e.g. RO “at least EURO 3 safe”), the BSEC Permit is to
be valid only accompanied by certificate(s) of conformity proving that the
vehicle / combination of vehicles is/ are in accordance with the relevant
requested standards.
Chapter 5: Mutual assistance
The
Participating Member States are to give each other mutual support in applying
the provisions governing the use of the BSEC Permit, monitoring their
observance and penalizing any infringements. In order to facilitate the process
of mutual assistance, it is the duty of each Participating Member
State to inform its
relevant competent authorities about introduction, template and usage rules of
the BSEC Permit, appropriately. The BSEC PERMIS in collaboration with the
BSEC-URTA and the IRU will assist to the Participating Member States wherever
necessary and facilitate their mutual assistance as above.
Download
the BSEC Permit User Guide in English,
Russian,
Albanian,
Armenian,
Georgian,
Romanian,
Serbian
or Turkish
languages.
