Filenews 10 August 2025 - by Angelos Nicolaou
After 17 years of inaction, legislation setting out safety standards for the transport of dangerous goods, such as oil and LPG, on Cypriot roads is finally being implemented.
From now on, the road transport of dangerous goods must be carried out exclusively by vehicles that meet specific safety standards. Otherwise, a potential accident, such as the involvement of a tanker truck in a traffic accident, can cause serious property damage, or even worse, endanger human lives.
Despite the fact that the "Road Transport of Dangerous Goods Law of 2004" was approved for implementation from 1 January 2008, its effective activation was never implemented. The implementation of the legislation, which concerns compliance with the international ADR Agreement and imposes strict technical, construction and operational specifications on vehicles transporting hazardous materials, has remained on paper for almost two decades.
Today in the Department of Road Transport they have identified the gap and made the decision that there will be no more grace period. According to the Law, the cut-off date for the use of vehicles that do not comply with the requirements of the ADR Agreement is set by Decree of the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works.
Therefore, this situation is changing, as a Decree signed by the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Alexis Vafeadis, officially sets August 8, 2025 as the deadline for the use of vehicles that do not meet the minimum safety standards of the ADR Agreement. From this date onwards, any tanker truck or other dangerous goods vehicle that does not comply with the requirements of the legislation will be considered illegal.
The specifications set include among others:
– Construction characteristics of the body and tanks
– Compliance of the electrical installation and brakes
– Minimum safety equipment (fire extinguishers, grounding, hazard signs, etc.).
– The compliance audit will be carried out by technically qualified bodies or approved private organizations, with the issuance of an ADR Certificate by the Department of Road Transport, the official Audit Body.
Alexis Vafeadis: Immediate implementation for road safety reasons
In a statement to "F", the Minister of Transport Alexis Vafeadis stressed that the immediate implementation of the ADR Agreement was deemed necessary for road safety reasons: "The immediate implementation of the ADR Agreement was deemed necessary to ensure road safety, especially considering that safety standards should have been met for many years.
Any adjustment period would have been justified in 2008. However, more than 17 years have passed and vehicles that do not meet the minimum required safety levels may remain in circulation, which is not acceptable." The Minister's decision essentially puts an end to a period of unjustified inaction, during which low-safety or non-existent vehicles continued to transport hazardous materials on the roads of Cyprus, posing serious risks to human life and the environment.
The bet now is the strict monitoring of compliance, as well as the adaptation of carriers to the new, albeit long-awaited, data, albeit with a delay of 17 whole years.
