Value proposition

Unified railway law to connect Europe, Asia and Africa

OTIF is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to international rail transport It has been active since 1893 and is the oldest international organisation in the sector. It now has 50 Member States and 1 Associate Member. The Organisation has its headquarters in Berne, Switzerland
www.otif.org

OTIF develops unified railway law to connect Europe, Asia and Africa for 125 years!

The Organisation uses simple and effective tools to promote, improve and facilitate international carriage by rail. OTIF provides legal and technical interoperability for international carriage by rail.

Its basic legal instrument is the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF 1999) and its seven Appendices. In 2011, the European Union (EU) acceded to COTIF 1999.

The Organisation’s mission is to promote, improve and facilitate international traffic by rail (Article 2 COTIF 1999). It therefore offers its 50 Member States a framework for cooperation in the railway sector in order to:
-extend and develop the application of COTIF,
-agree on uniform legal regimes,
-envisage and enshrine systems of technical compatibility and harmonisation,
-contribute to the elimination of barriers to border crossing.

OTIF has three major areas of activity: technical interoperability, dangerous goods and railway contract law.

OTIF develops uniform legal regimes for: contracts of carriage of passengers and goods, ancillaries to the contract of carriage, such as the contract of use of wagons or infrastructure, rules for the transport of dangerous goods, technical provisions and the procedure for the technical approval of rolling stock.

OTIF provides its Member States with the legal and technical means to facilitate international traffic by rail, to develop this traffic on their territory and to connect to the railway networks of other Member States. It therefore supplies the means to promote real legal and technical interoperability.

RID, CIM, CIV, CUV, ATMF, APTU, PTU, UTP, and ETV