Not every vehicle that carries dangerous goods needs its own certificate. ADR requires a certificate of approval for exactly five vehicle designations — EX/II, EX/III, FL and AT vehicles and MEMUs. For all others no special certificates are required beyond the general safety regulations of the country of origin (ADR 9.1.2). A box van delivering packaged dangerous goods under orange plates drives on its ordinary registration and technical inspection — the load, the documents and the driver still fall under ADR, but the vehicle itself is not separately certified.
Which vehicles need ADR approval
The designations are defined in (ADR 9.1.1.2).
- EX/II and EX/III — vehicles for explosive substances and articles of Class 1.
- FL — a vehicle for liquids with a flash-point of not more than 60 °C (excepting diesel to EN 590, gas oil and heating oil (light), UN 1202), for flammable gases, or for hydrogen peroxide solutions above 60 % (UN 2015) — in fixed or demountable tanks over 1 m³, in tank-containers, portable tanks or MEGCs over 3 m³ each, or in a battery-vehicle over 1 m³ total capacity (flammable gases).
- AT — a vehicle above the same capacity thresholds that is not an EX/III, FL vehicle or a MEMU. Also a battery-vehicle over 1 m³ that is not FL.
- MEMU — a mobile explosives manufacturing unit as defined in 1.2.1.
The thresholds are the practical filter — a tank up to 1 m³, or tank-containers up to 3 m³ each, does not make the vehicle FL or AT — no approval needed.
First inspection and the certificate of approval
Before entering service, every complete or completed vehicle undergoes a first inspection by the competent authority against the technical requirements of Chapters 9.2 to 9.8 (ADR 9.1.2.1). For vehicles type-approved under UN Regulation No. 105 the inspection concentrates on parts added or modified during completion. The type approval of one contracting party is accepted by the others (ADR 9.1.2.2).
Conformity is certified by the certificate of approval, issued by the competent authority of the country of registration (ADR 9.1.3.1). The document follows the model in 9.1.3.5 — A4, white with a pink diagonal stripe, stating the vehicle, its designation, the tank and the goods authorised for carriage (ADR 9.1.3.3, ADR 9.1.3.5). A certificate issued in one contracting party is accepted by all the others for as long as it remains valid (ADR 9.1.3.2).
Annual inspection — the one-year clock
EX/II, EX/III, FL and AT vehicles and MEMUs undergo an annual technical inspection in their country of registration, covering the ADR requirements and the general safety regulations (brakes, lighting) (ADR 9.1.2.3). The certificate of approval expires not later than one year after the technical inspection preceding its issue. If the next inspection falls within one month either side of the nominal expiry date, the new term still runs from that date (ADR 9.1.3.4). After expiry the vehicle must not carry dangerous goods until a valid certificate is in place — but the vehicle’s annual clock does not shorten the tank inspection intervals of Chapter 6.8 (ADR 9.1.3.4).
Tank inspections — the 3- and 6-year cycle
The tank on an FL or AT vehicle runs on its own inspection cycle (ADR 6.8.2.4). The intervals below are those for fixed tanks — tank-containers and portable tanks follow a shorter 2.5/5-year rhythm.
- Initial inspection — before the tank enters service — conformity to the approved type, the design characteristics, the internal and external conditions, a hydraulic pressure test at the test pressure on the tank plate, and a leakproofness test with a check of the equipment (ADR 6.8.2.4.1).
- Intermediate inspection — no later than three years after the initial and after each periodic inspection — a leakproofness test of the shell with its equipment and a check that all the equipment operates properly (ADR 6.8.2.4.3). Performed more than three months early, it starts a new three-year count.
- Periodic inspection — no later than every six years — an external and internal examination, a leakproofness test and, as a general rule, a hydraulic pressure test. Insulation is removed only as far as needed to appraise the shell (ADR 6.8.2.4.2).
- Exceptional inspection — whenever the safety of the tank or its equipment may have been impaired by repairs, alterations or an accident. Performed to the periodic or intermediate scope, it counts as that inspection (ADR 6.8.2.4.4).
Each inspection ends with a certificate from the inspection body. A copy goes into the tank record (ADR 6.8.2.4.5). In practice the two certificates travel together — the Baltic authorities make a valid tank inspection a condition of the vehicle’s ADR certificate.
Latvia
The vehicle’s ADR sertifikāts is issued by CSDD together with the annual technical inspection. Certification of EX/II, EX/III, FL, AT and MEMU vehicles is handled by the CSDD technical department in Riga (S. Eizenšteina 6). The certificate is extended annually. The fees are 58.73 € for the conformity check and 3.77 € for issue (CSDD price list under Cabinet Regulation No. 1000 of 24 September 2013, checked July 2026). The requirement itself, and CSDD as the issuing authority, come from Cabinet Regulation No. 674 of 6 September 2005 (clauses 9–11). The inspection procedure and the technical criteria are set by Cabinet Regulation No. 295 of 30 May 2017.
Tank supervision runs under Cabinet Regulation No. 538 (17 June 2009). The tank is registered in the dangerous equipment register (bīstamo iekārtu reģistrs, BIR) kept by PTAC — digital since 2 June 2025 under Cabinet Regulation No. 214 of 8 April 2025, which replaced the earlier registration rules — and inspections are performed by LATAK-accredited inspection bodies — for example Kiwa Latvia, EU notified body No. 1325. The four inspection types mirror ADR — pirmreizējā (initial, before BIR registration), hermētiskuma starppārbaude (intermediate leakproofness check), periodiskā (periodic, with hydraulic test, internal examination and residual wall-thickness measurement) and ārpuskārtas (exceptional). Testing follows LVS EN 12972. Gas tanks additionally fall under Cabinet Regulation No. 500 and TPED π-marking. The tank documentation must be in the state language, and the tank carries a BIR passport. Before issuing the ADR sertifikāts CSDD checks that the tank is in that register and holds a current report from a recognised inspection body (Cabinet Regulation No. 674, clause 11) — which is why a lapsed tank inspection also stops the vehicle certificate.
The driver’s certificate is a separate track — CSDD examinations under Cabinet Regulation No. 514 (8 June 2010) — a 36-hour basic course plus 16-hour specialisations, an exam of 25 questions in 45 minutes with at most 3 errors, five years of validity and renewal in the last 12 months — see the ADR licence article.
Lithuania
The vehicle’s ADR sertifikatas is issued by LTSA under order No. 2BE-218 of the LTSA director of 26 June 2020, which restated in a new redaction the order of the head of the State Road Transport Inspectorate (Valstybinė kelių transporto inspekcija, VKTI) No. 2B-446 of 19 October 2010 — VKTI having since been absorbed into the LTSA. The application is filled in and signed by the company’s own dangerous goods safety adviser and countersigned by the company head or an authorised delegate. LTSA decides on issue or renewal within three working days (clauses 24.1 and 29). The vehicle itself passes the mandatory technical inspection at an inspection centre (Transeksta among others). The certificate is valid no longer than the date of the next technical inspection or the tank’s nearest inspection — effectively up to one year (clause 31). The service is also available electronically via epaslaugos.lt.
Tank inspections are performed by authorised inspection bodies for potentially dangerous equipment (potencialiai pavojingųjų įrenginių techninės būklės tikrinimo įstaigos) — among them TUV NORD Lietuva, EU notified body No. 2331, which traded as Tuvlita until 28 May 2025, and Kiwa Inspecta, EU notified body No. 2268 (checked July 2026). For an FL or AT vehicle with a fixed tank, a current inspection report naming the tank code is part of the certificate application, and a valid tank inspection is a condition of the vehicle’s ADR certificate remaining in force (clauses 24.3 and 31).
Estonia
Approval runs through the ADR-sõiduki eriliigiline ülevaatus — the ADR special inspection, performed at an ordinary inspection point (ülevaatuspunkt) by an inspector attested for the ADR category. The legal basis is the Autoveoseadus (Road Transport Act) together with the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications regulation No. 77 of 18 July 2011, «Mootorsõiduki ja selle haagise tehnonõuetele vastavuse kontrollimise tingimused ja kord» — still in force, current wording RT I, 24.10.2025, 6 (checked July 2026). The inspector’s ADR attestation category comes from regulation No. 49 of 3 July 2014. Transpordiamet organises the inspections and supervises their quality, issues the certificate blanks and runs the ARIS2 information system in which the certificate is drawn up.
A conforming vehicle receives the sõiduki ohtliku veose autoveole lubamise tunnistus — the ADR certificate of approval — issued or extended by the inspector on the form set out in Annex 1 to regulation No. 53 of 18 September 2018. The issuer is Transpordiamet or the inspection undertaking holding an administrative contract with it. Validity is set to the day, and an inspection carried out within one month either side of the expiry date keeps the old date as the starting point — the same rule as (ADR 9.1.3.4).
For a tank vehicle the tank’s ADR conformity certificate from an inspection body must be presented before the vehicle inspection, and the tank data on the ADR certificate are copied from the tank inspection protocol. Tank inspection bodies are accredited by Eesti Akrediteerimiskeskus (EAK, the Estonian Accreditation Centre) to EVS-EN ISO/IEC 17020 with an ADR scope — Kiwa Estonia OÜ holds accreditation I002 — ADR, RID and SMGS inspection — valid until 8 August 2029 (EAK register, checked July 2026). The inspections themselves are the ADR cycle above, tested to EN 12972:2018 + A1:2024 (ADR 6.8.2.6.2).
Keeping the cycle together
A tank vehicle lives on three clocks — the annual vehicle certificate, the three-year leakproofness check and the six-year full tank test — and a missed date on any of them stops dangerous goods work. Tracking the dates, assembling the tank record, preparing the vehicle for the inspection line and talking to the inspection bodies is the work an ADR consultant takes over — so an expired certificate never stops a load.
References — ADR 2025 9.1.1.2 (vehicle designations), 9.1.2 (approval and annual technical inspection), 9.1.3 (certificate of approval, validity and model), 6.8.2.4.1–6.8.2.4.5 (tank inspections and tests).