Intergovernmental organization for international rail traffic

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Organization of intergouvernementale pour les transports internationaux ferroviaires
OTIF
 
 
German name Intergovernmental organization for international rail traffic
English name Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail
French name Organization of intergouvernementale pour les transports internationaux ferroviaires
status active
Seat of the organs Bern, SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
Secretary General Wolfgang Küpper
Official and working languages

French, English, German

founding

1985 (OCTI 1893)

www.otif.org
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The Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail ( French organization intergovernmental pour les transports internationaux ferroviaires (OTIF) English Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail ) is a existed since 1 May 1985 intergovernmental organization based in Bern . The forerunner from 1893 was the Office central des transports internationaux par chemins de fer à Berne (OCTI), the central office for railways. It was founded in 1893, making it the oldest international organization in its sector.

task

The organization uses simple and effective legal instruments to promote, improve and facilitate international rail traffic.

OTIF offers international rail traffic both legal and technical interoperability. It works in close partnership with the European Union, the European Union Railway Agency, the International Railway Transport Committee (CIT), the International Union of Railways (UIC), the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ( UNECE).

The organization's basic legal instrument is the Convention on International Carriage by Rail (COTIF 1999) with its seven annexes (in force), to which the European Union (EU) also acceded in 2011.

The organization, administered by the Secretariat, consists of three administrative and four operational bodies that promote the development of international rail traffic.

  • The Revision Committee decides on the changes to Appendices A, B, D and E as well as certain changes to Appendices F and G.
  • The Technical Committee is responsible for the changes to Appendices F and G as well as for the adoption of the uniform technical regulations (ETV).
  • The RID Committee of Experts decides on the changes to Appendix C and its appendix.
  • The Committee for Facilitation of Rail Traffic, created in COTIF 1999, is to propose standards and methods to improve border crossing in international rail traffic.

The governance of OTIF is ensured by three bodies:

  • the General Assembly, the highest decision-making body made up of representatives from all member states;
  • the Administrative Committee, which oversees the Secretary General's administrative and financial affairs;
  • the General Secretary, who leads the organization in the traditional sense, but who is also an operational body through his depositary and representative functions of OTIF.

OTIF draws up uniform legal provisions regarding:

  • the contracts for the international carriage of passengers and goods by rail (CIV / CIM)
  • the ancillary to these transport contracts, such as the contracts for the use of wagons or the use of the infrastructure, (CUI / CUV)
  • the regulations for the transport of dangerous goods, (RID)
  • the technical regulations and the procedure for the technical approval of rolling stock. (APTU / ATMF)

OTIF provides its Member States with the legal and technical means that contribute to facilitating international rail traffic, developing this traffic on its territory and linking it to the rail networks of other Member States. It thus provides the tools to promote actual legal and technical interoperability.

Members

Members are the European Union and numerous European, African and Asian countries:

The membership of Iraq and Lebanon has been suspended since 1997, that of Syria since 1999. Jordan is an associate member.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://otif.org/de/?page_id=69
  2. ↑ www.otif.org: Member States , accessed on February 21, 2017