New Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods enters into force on 1 September 2023 – brings new obligations for operators

The new Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (541/2023 (External link)) enters into force on 1 September 2023. An operator who transports dangerous goods or conducts other related operations must be familiar with the Act and the provisions issued under it and must perform more extensive risk analyses when evaluating operations related to the transport of dangerous goods. This ensures that all risk factors are taken into account in transports of dangerous goods, that the appropriate precautions have been carefully planned and that rescue operations are appropriately implemented if necessary.

More effective monitoring

The new legislation improves the cooperation between authorities regarding the transport of dangerous goods. Traficom is the general supervisory authority of the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and is authorised to monitor operators involved in the transport of dangerous goods and to see that they comply with the regulations. 

Traficom will coordinate the regulatory control. The aim is to clarify regulatory control in every transport mode and in the whole transport chain of dangerous goods. This helps prevent incidents and ensure that the dangerous goods are transported safely and responsibly.

Notification of a safety advisor in transport of dangerous goods as new obligation

According to the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, a notification of the appointment of a safety advisor in road or rail transport must be submitted to Traficom. The notification of a safety advisor is submitted on the Traficom website Submit a notification on the appointment of a dangerous goods safety advisor (External link) (available in Finnish and Swedish). The notification obligation enters into force on 1 September 2023, so notifications submitted before this are regarded as received on 1 September 2023. 

General information on dangerous goods safety advisors (External link) (available in Finnish and Swedish)

Internal emergency plan for temporary places of storage

An aim of the new requirements of the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods is to improve the safety of temporary storage of dangerous goods included in the transport. These include the obligation to draft an internal emergency plan and to appoint a person responsible for the safety of the temporary place of storage. Traficom will publish documents for drafting an internal emergency plan and instructions for filling in the documents. 

The Government Decree on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (External link) (available in Finnish and Swedish) supplements the new Act regarding, for example, internal emergency plans. 

Read more:

The Ministry of Transport and Communications press release on the reform of the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (External link) (23 March 2023, in Finnish)