Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications appoints steering group to support reform of Act on Transport of Dangerous Goods
The reform of the legislation on the transport of dangerous goods is proceeding. The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland says it has appointed a steering group for the reform project. Its task is to support the work on the reform of the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and statutes issued under it. The group's term of office will begin on 1 April 2019 and last until 31 December 2020.
The steering group will be chaired by Elina Immonen, Director of Safety and Security Unit at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Secretaries of the group will be Mari Suominen, Katja Viertävä and Anu Häkkinen from the Ministry. The group will have representatives from the transport sector and several authorities.
Provisions concerning the matter are laid down in the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. The previous overall reform of the Act was carried out in 1994. Renewal of the legislation is important, as significant changes have taken place in the operating environment and conditions over the past 25 years.
The updates will improve traffic safety and have a positive impact on the state of the environment. The updated Act will also take into account developments in transport automation and digitalisation.
The objective is to achieve an Act that is clear and guarantees a high level of transport safety. A further objective is to ensure that the Act does not place an unnecessary administrative burden on companies.
In the first stage of the renewal work, a broad assessment of the current situation at the legislative and practical levels was carried out. A draft memorandum of the assessment was circulated for comments from 19 December 2018 to 8 February 2019. A total of 38 comments were received. The Ministry of Transport and Communications wishes to thank everyone who submitted their comment.
The preparations will continue by Ministry officials. The steering group appointed to the project will support the preparations work. A summary of the statements will be published later and added to the project material in the Government’s project information service.
The goal is to send the actual draft bill out for comments at the end of 2019 and submit it to Parliament for processing in autumn 2020.