60 years on - European Conference of Ministers of Transport.

17 October 2013

Sixty years ago, on 17th October 1953, Ministers from 16 European countries met in Brussels to create the European Conference of Ministers of Transport. The ECMT, as it became widely known, was intended by its founders as “a procedure whereby effective steps can be taken to coordinate and rationalise European inland transport of international importance”.

ECMT remains the legal core of International Transport Forum (ITF) and maintains a number of European activities. On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, the ECMT archive has been digitalised and is now freely available online on the OECD iLibrary.

Since those early days, ECMT resolutions, recommendations and reports have informed transport policy decisions on issues as diverse as railroad regulation and road safety, accessibility and environmental standards and market liberalisation for international road freight haulage.

Seat belts, helmets for motorcyclists, speed limits, blood alcohol limits and targeted traffic education programmes were all pioneered by ECMT before becoming the norm.

The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) is a valuable service provided by ITS.