CONVENTION ON ROAD TRAFFIC

The Contracting Parties, desiring to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety through the adoption of uniform traffic rules, have agreed upon the following provisions:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 3

Obligations of the Contracting Parties

1. (a) Contracting Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the rules of the road in force in their territories conform in substance to the provisions of Chapter II of this Convention. Provided that the said rules are in no way incompatible with the said provisions:

(i) The said rules need not reproduce any of the said provisions which are applicable to situations that do not arise in the territories of the Contracting Parties in question;

(ii) The said rules may include provisions not contained in the said Chapter II.

(b) The provisions of this paragraph do not require Contracting Parties to provide penalties for any violation of those provisions of Chapter II which are reproduced in their rules of the road.

2. (a) Contracting Parties shall also take appropriate measures to ensure that the rules in force in their territories concerning the technical requirements to be satisfied by motor vehicles and trailers conform to the provisions of Annex 5 to this Convention; provided that they are in no way contrary to the safety principles governing the provisions of Annex 5, the said rules may contain provisions not contained in Annex 5. Contracting Parties shall also take appropriate measures to ensure that motor vehicles and trailers registered in their territories conform to the provisions of Annex 5 to this Convention when entering international traffic.

(b) The provisions of this paragraph do not impose any obligations on the Contracting Parties with respect to the rules in force in their territories concerning the technical requirements to be satisfied by power-driven vehicles which are not motor vehicles within the meaning of this Convention.

3. Subject to the exceptions provided for in Annex 1 to this Convention, Contracting Parties shall be bound to admit to their territories in international traffic motor vehicles and trailers which fulfil the conditions laid down in Chapter III of this Convention and whose drivers fulfil the conditions laid down in Chapter IV; they shall also be bound to recognize registration certificates issued in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III as prima facie evidence that the vehicles to which they refer fulfil the conditions laid down in the said Chapter III.

4. Measures which the Contracting Parties have taken or may take, either unilaterally or under bilateral or multilateral agreements, to admit to their territories in international traffic motor vehicles and trailers that do not satisfy all the conditions stated in Chapter III of this Convention and to recognize, in cases other than those specified in Chapter IV, the validity in their territories of driving permits issued in the territory of another Contracting Party shall be deemed to be in conformity with the object of this Convention.

5. Contracting Parties shall be bound to admit to their territories in international traffic cycles and mopeds which fulfil the technical conditions laid down in Chapter V of this Convention and whose drivers have their normal residence in the territory of another Contracting Party. No Contracting Party shall require the drivers of cycles or mopeds in international traffic to hold a driving permit; however, Contracting Parties which have declared in conformity with Article 54, paragraph 2, of this Convention that they treat mopeds as motor cycles may require the drivers of mopeds in international traffic to hold a driving permit.

5-bis. Contracting Parties will take the necessary measures to ensure that road safety education be provided on a systematic and continuous basis, particularly in schools at all levels.

5-ter. Whenever driving instruction for learner drivers is provided by professional driving establishments, domestic legislation shall lay down minimum requirements concerning the curriculum and the qualifications of the personnel responsible for providing such instruction.

6. Contracting Parties undertake to communicate to any Contracting Party, which may so request, the information necessary to ascertain the identity of the person in whose name a power-driven vehicle, or a trailer coupled to such a vehicle, is registered in their territories if the request submitted shows that the vehicle has been involved in an accident or the driver of this vehicle has seriously infringed road traffic rules and is thereby liable to important penalties or disqualification from driving in the territory of the Contracting Party submitting the request.

7. Measures which the Contracting Parties have taken or may take either unilaterally or under bilateral or multilateral agreements to facilitate international road traffic by simplifying Customs, police, health and other similar formalities or to ensure that Customs offices and posts at a given frontier point have the same competence and are kept open during the same hours shall be deemed to be in conformity with the object of this Convention.

8. Nothing in paragraphs 3, 5 and 7 of this Article shall affect the right of a Contracting Party to make the admission to its territory in international traffic of motor vehicles, trailers, mopeds and cycles, and of their drivers and occupants, subject to its regulations concerning the commercial carriage of passengers and goods, to its regulations concerning insurance of drivers against third-party risks, to its Customs regulations and, in general, to its regulations on matters other than road traffic.