What is ADR?

The ADR regulation is the international agreement concerning the transport of dangerous goods by road. The acronym “ADR” stands for Agreement for the transport of Dangerous goods by Road. This agreement was signed in Geneva in 1957 and entered into force in 1968. It has currently been signed by 54 countries, including Italy. The main objective of the ADR agreement is to harmonize the various safety regulations regarding the transport of dangerous goods, in order to ensure a high level of safety during transport.

Multilateral Agreement

The ADR establishes specific procedures for authorizing exemptions from the “harmonized” requirements, which are included in Multilateral Agreements. These agreements must be signed by at least two of the countries participating in the ADR Agreement.

Ultimately, a Multilateral Agreement, relating to a specific exemption, is proposed by one of the ADR countries (called the initiating country) to the other countries for possible signature.

The old M329 Agreement, which expired on September 21, 2025, allowed the use of non-approved packaging or packaging with expired approval for waste packaging, subject to compliance with certain conditions and specifications.

Currently, this exemption condition (M329) is no longer applicable, and Austria has submitted a proposal to the UNECE for its renewal, with the new M368 Agreement.

The new derogation agreement, M368, became effective on September, 25 2025 for the countries that have signed up to it, namely Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and, starting on October 24, 2025, it will also apply to Italy, making this derogation applicable in our country as well.

The M368 Agreement is applicable until September 20, 2030.

WE, Start Engineering S.r.l.

We remain available to provide further clarification regarding the conditions of application and validity of the M368 Agreement.