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Economic Community of West African States
A/P2/5/82 Convention Regulating Inter-State Road Transportation between ECOWAS Member States
- Published in official journal 4 on 1 June 1982
- Commenced
- [This is the version of this document as it was at 29 May 1982 to 31 May 1982.]
Chapter I
Definitions
Article 1
In this Convention"Treaty" means the Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States,"Community" means the Economic Community of West African States established by Article 1 of the Treaty,"Member State" or "Member States" means a Member State or Member States of the Community;"Authority" means the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Community established by Article 5 of the Treaty;"Council" means the Council of Ministers of the Community established by Article 6 of the Treaty;"Executive Secretary" means the Executive Secretary of the Community appointed under Article 8 of the Treaty;"Transporter" means the natural or legal person in whose name the transporter's licence is issued;"Road Vehicle" means any motor vehicle or any Trailer or semi Trailer with back axle, the front part of which rests on the towing vehicle and is so designed as to be connected to such a vehicle,"Container" means any means of transport (frame, tankers or similar stock);(1)having a durable outlook and of such quality as to withstand repeated use,(2)specially designed to facilitate transportation of merchandise without the need for breaking bulk by one or several means of transportation,(3)equiped with devices which can be easily manipulated especially when changing from one means of transport to another,(4)made in such a way that it can be filled and emptied easily, and(5)having an internal capacity of at least one cubic metre"Way-bill" means a document issued by the loading agent or the freight office, indicating the nature and weight of the cargo, the loading and off-loading points as well as the date of commencement of transportation.Chapter II
Objective
Article 2
Article 3
The following shall be the recognised Community road axes:Chapter III
Highway code
Article 4
The axle load of the various types of vehicles authorised to carry out Inter-State Transportation shall not exceed 11.5 tonnes.Article 5
The maximum dimensions allowed for the road vehicles defined in Article 2 above shall be as follows:| a) Length:— | Vehicles with two or three axles | 11m (In exceptional cases, the length of passenger vehicles may be longer than 11 meters but shall not exceed 12 meters, provided the over-hang shall not be greater than 6/10 of its width or a length of 3,50 m). |
| Articulated vehicles | 15 m (under special arrangement made for container vehicles) Articulated carriage (vehicle + trailer 18 m | |
| Road train | 22 m | |
| (b) Breadth | All vehicles | 2.50 m |
| (c) Height | All vehicles | 4 m |
Article 6
For an omnibus, two entrances or exits shall be provided for passengers. One emergency exit shall also be provided.| Width of the door | 0.60 m |
| Height of the door | 1.60 m |
Article 7
Vehicles with exceptional dimensions shall seek permit from the Minister responsible for Transport in the State in which the vehicles are registered. In the event such vehicles operate in other Member States they shall seek prior approval from the Ministers of Transport of the transit States.Vehicles with exceptional dimensions may operate only during the day on specified axes during a specified period.Article 8
The maximum number of passengers to be carried in public transport vehicles shall be determined by the following standards:A space of 40 cm shall be provided for each passengerThe space between the back of one seat and the other shall be 60 cm.An allowance of 70 kg. shall be made for the weight of each passenger.Each passenger shall be entitled to 30 kg. for his baggageAn allowance of at least 40 cm shall be provided for a Central corridor.Article 9
Vehicles operating under the present Convention shall carry at their rear and front, reflectorised plates bearing their registration numbers and the signs of the Member States in which the registration has been effected.Article 10
The minimum period for mechanical examination shall be fixed as follows:Article 11
A mechanical examination shall take place in the State where the vehicle is registered. It shall be recognised as valid in other States.If the certificate of road worthiness expires while the vehicle is in the territory of a State other than that in which it was registered, it shall undergo a mechanical examination in that State.If in the opinion of any of the contracting States such vehicles are deemed mechanically unfit, a report of the observation shall be forwarded to the State where the vehicle is registered with a view to affecting a re-examination.The said vehicle shall comply with the internal regulations of the State in which it was registered upon its return to that State.Chapter IV
Transportation regulations and requirements
Article 12
A vehicle registered in one of the Member States may operate between one or several pre-determined points in the territories of other Member States along the axes defined in Article 3 above provided that:The goods loaded in one State shall only be transported to another Member State or Member States.It complies with rules laid down by the offices in charge of Freight.The vehicle shall satisfy prescribed regulations while crossing the customs barrier of each Member States.Article 13
In order to facilitate the use of public passenger transport operating between Member States, the conditions laid down in Article 11 of the Convention may be waived provided there is a bilateral or multilateral agreement between Member States concerned.Article 14
Carriage of persons and goods mixed together in one vehicle shall be forbidden between States of the Community.Article 15
Transportation of goods or persons along the Inter-State routes defined in Article 3 above shall be carried out in accordance with the regulations in force in each State regarding the co-ordination of transportation by rail and by road.Article 16
Vehicles registered in one of the Member States shall operate within the road traffic and fiscal regulations in force in their country of registration.These vehicles shall be exempted from fiscal regulations in force in other Member States.Article 17
Vehicles taking part in Inter-State transportation shall possess a bilingual (official language of the Member State/One working language of ECOWAS) Inter-State Transport Permit; printed in two colours (grey) for vehicles licensed to undertake public transportation of persons and (green) for vehicles engaged in the transportation of merchandise.The specimen permit attached as an appendix shall be the only recognised format.This permit which shall be valid for each vehicle shall bear the authorised itinerary and the official stamp of the States involved.This licence shall be valid for one year.Article 18
Conditions for the issue of these permits shall be defined by bilateral or multilateral agreements signed between the States concerned. These agreements which may be renewed annually shall also stipulate for each State the number and the category of vehicles authorised to operate in the other State or States.The basic criteria for comparison shall be tonnage and the authorised number of passengers; the number of vehicles according to specified categories may vary from one State to another in relation to the total number of vehicles in each State.Article 19
The implementation of this system of transport authorisation shall be subject to the establishment and operation of freight offices or road transport stations in charge of Inter-State transport in the Principal towns of States which are signatories to this convention,Article 20
Rules relating to Inter-State allocation of freight shall be those laid down by the Inter-State freight offices of Member States.Article 21
Vehicles shall possess a five-page waybill in the Appendix and issued by the loading agent or the freight office stating the nature, the weight of the cargo, loading and off loading points and the date on which the transport owner takes responsibility of the freight.Article 22
The driver of a vehicle engaged in lnter-State Road Transport shall produce on demand by any competent authority reponsible for traffic control, the following document in addition to his licence and the particulars of the vehicle:Article 23
The transporter shall be responsible for acquiring and maintaining the validity of an insurance policy covering the responsibility he might encounter in accordance with the legislation in force in countries where he shall operate as regards loss or injury to a third party, taking into consideration the limits of the amount which the insurance policies of those countries have or may set for such purposes.Article 24
An infringement of the provisions of the traffic regulations in any of the States shall render the offender liable to the sanctions prescribed by the laws or regulations in force in the country where the offence is committed.Chapter V
General and final provisions
Article 25
The Member States agree to retain provisions of treaties signed between them which shall not be contrary to the provisions of the present convention. Furthermore, Member States undertake to harmonise earlier accords signed and in force with third countries, to conform with the provisions of the present Convention.Article 26
Article 27
Any Member State desiring to withdraw from the present Convention shall give a year`s notice of its intention to the Executive Secretariat which shall inform Member States thereof. If by the end of this period, the notice is not withdrawn, the Member State concerned shall cease to be party to the Convention.During the one year period referred to above, the Member State in question shall continue to comply with the provisions of the present Convention and it shall be incumbent upon it to discharge the obligations which fall on it by virtue of the present Convention.Article 28
The present Convention shall enter into force provisionally upon signature by Heads of State and Government of Member States and definitely upon ratification by at least seven (7) signatory States in accordance with the constitutional procedures applicable for each Member State.This Convention and all the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Executive Secretariat which shall transmit certified true copies of this Convention to all Member States and notify them of the dates of deposits of these instruments of ratification and shall register this convention with the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and such Organisations as the Council shall determine.History of this document
01 June 1982
29 May 1982 this version
Consolidation