ATP applies to road and rail carriage on two conditions: the loading and unloading points lie in two different states, and the unloading takes place in the territory of a party to the agreement (Article 3). Türkiye acceded on 21 December 2012.
A route plan therefore checks three things:
- Is the unloading country a party? Iraq and Egypt, for example, are not on the UN Treaty Collection list (30.09.2026); for carriage there the ATP equipment rule does not apply.
- Does the route cross water? A crossing under 150 km, without transloading, between land legs keeps ATP in force; on a longer crossing each land leg is considered separately.
- Does the destination add entry conditions? Any party may prohibit entry of foodstuffs, or make it conditional, on public-health grounds (Article 4).
Transit countries do not have to be parties. Parties recognise each other's certificates of compliance (Article 2), so an ATP certificate issued in Türkiye is valid in the other party states.
A corporate buyer may also ask for more than ATP in its own specification, for instance a particular class code or logging interval. That condition comes from the contract and is a separate line in the route plan.
The list of parties changes over time; Armenia joined in 2022. The list is checked in the UN Treaty Collection before a shipment.
