The carriage of perishable goods has become an ever increasing problem which neither contractual agreements nor the CMR Convention have been able to resolve. In an effort to regulate the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs and the special equipment used in this trade the Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Special Equipment to be used for such Carriage (ATP) was signed at Geneva under the auspices of the ECE on Sept. 1, 1970. To enable the United Kingdom to acceed to ATP the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs Act 1976 has recently become law. The Agreement and the Act will therefore be considered in relationship to each other.

The Agreement as stated above deals with the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs and the special equipment to be used for such carriage. As will be noted in later discussion the Agreement specifically excludes deep sea container traffic from the scope of its operation. The technical aspects of both these topics is too complex in nature to be dealt with briefly. This paper will therefore deal essentially with the administrative regulation and scope of application of ATP and the enabling Act.

Article 3(1) ATP provides that the provisions of art. 4 ATP shall apply to the carriage of “quick (deep)-frozen and frozen foodstuffs, and of foodstuffs referred to in Annex 3 to this Agreement even if they are neither quick (deep)-frozen nor frozen.” The provisions in art. 4 ATP are applicable “to all carriage, whether for hire or reward or for own account, carried out exclusively—subject to the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article—by rail, by road or by a combination of the two.”

The ATP Agreement being solely concerned with international carriage will only apply “if the point at which the goods are, or the equipment containing them is, loaded on to a rail or road vehicle and the point at which the goods are, or the equipment containing them is, unloaded from that vehicle are in two different States and the point at which the goods are unloaded is situated in the territory of a Contracting Party.” (art. 3(1) ATP). Here it will be noted that whereas under CMR it is sufficient for the place of loading or unloading to be situated in a Contracting State, under ATP only the latter is relevant as regards the operation of the Agreement.

As the United Kingdom is an island the special provisions in ATP relating to carriage by sea are of particular importance. Article 3(2) ATP provides that the provisions laid down in art. 3(1) in respect of land transport will also apply to sea-crossings of less than 150 kilometres provided the goods are shipped in equipment used for the land