Seven Decades: Driving Land Transport
IRU is the International Road Transport Union, founded 75 years ago in Geneva to facilitate trade, international road transport and passenger mobility and support sustainable development around the world.
We have been driving economic growth in more than 100 countries, supporting the interests of all road transport operators by creating increasingly efficient ways to connect communities.
We enjoy long-term partnerships with the United Nations, the European Union and Eurasian institutions, giving us the visibility needed to drive progress in the road transport industry.
Today, we connect communities with safe, efficient and environmentally friendly transportation and logistics services.
The 1940s: Rebuilding Europe
The IRU was founded in Geneva to help war-torn Europe rebuild destroyed trade and commerce links. It began with an alliance of national passenger and freight road transport associations from eight European countries, to ensure representation of the road transport industry in the newly created United Nations, which was tasked with developing new post-war frameworks. Europe.
The IRU established the TIR system in 1949 – initially an intergovernmental agreement – which later became a global agreement. The TIR became a tool to facilitate intra-European trade after the war – in the context of fragile geopolitical relations. The customs transit system has enabled goods to flow across unstable borders as European economies and societies begin to recover. TIR has become a tangible way to pursue prosperity.
