Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network

Done at: Bangkok

Date enacted: 2003-11-18

In force: 2005-07-04

The Contracting Parties,

Conscious of the need to promote and develop international road transport in Asia and with neighbouring regions,

Recalling the cooperation among members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in the formulation and operationalization of the Asian Highway network,

Considering that in order to strengthen relations and promote international trade and tourism among members of the Uni ted Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific it is essential to develop the Asian Highway network to the requirements of international transport and the environment, keeping also in view the introduction of efficient international intermodal transport,

Continuing the cooperative efforts for planning, development and improvement of international road transport within Asia and between Asia and neighbouring regions,

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1

Adoption of the Asian Highway network

The Contracting Parties, hereinafter referred to as the Parties, adopt the proposed highway network hereinafter referred to as the “Asian Highway network” and described in annex I to this Agreement, as a coordinated plan for the development of highway routes of international importance which they intend to undertake within the framework of their national programmes.

Article 2

Definition of the Asian Highway network

The Asian Highway network as described in annex I consists of highway routes of international importance within Asia, including highway routes substantially crossing more than one subregion, highway routes within subregions, including those connecting to neighbouring subregions, and highway routes located within member States.

Article 3

Development of the Asian Highway network

The routes of the Asian Highway network should be brought into conformity with the classification and design standards described in annex II to this Agreement.

Article 4

Signage of the Asian Highway network

1.	The Asian Highway network routes should be indicated by means of the route sign described in annex III to this Agreement.
2.	Route signs conforming to that described in annex III to this Agreement should be placed on all routes of the Asian Highway network within five (5) years from the date of entry into force of this Agreement for the State concerned, in accordance with article 6.

Article 5

Procedure for signing and becoming a Party to this Agreement

This Agreement shall be open for signatur e by States which are members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at Shanghai, China, from 26 to 28 April 2004 and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 1 May 2004 to 31 December 2005.

Those States may become Parties to this Agreement by:

(a)	Definitive signature;
(b)	Signature subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, followed by ratification, acceptance or approval; or
(c)	Accession.

Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument in good and due form with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 6

Entry into force of this Agreement

1.	This Agreement shall enter into force on the ninetieth day following the date on which the Governments of at least eight (8) States have consented to be bound by the Agreement pursuant to article 5, paragraph 2.
2.	For each State which definitively signs or deposits its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or access ion after the date upon which the conditions for the entry into force of the Agreement have been met, the Agreement shall enter into force for that State ninety (90) days after the date of its definitive signature or of its deposit of the said instrument.

Article 7

Working Group on the Asian Highway

A Working Group on the Asian Highway shall be established by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to consider the implementation of this Agreement and to consider any amendments proposed. All States which are members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific shall be members of the Working Group.

The Working Group shall meet biennially. Any Party may also, by a notification addressed to the secretariat, request that a special meeting of the Working Group be convened. The secretariat shall notify all members of the Working Group of the request and shall convene a special meeting of the Working Group if not less than one third of the Parties signify their assent to the request within a period of four (4) months from the date of the notification by the secretariat.

Article 8

Procedures for amending the main text of this Agreement

1.	The main text of this Agreement may be amended by the procedures specified in this article.
2.	Amendments to this Agreement may be proposed by any Party.
3.	The text of any proposed amendment shall be circulated to all members of the Working Group on the Asian Highway by the secretariat at least fort y five (45) days before the Working Group meeting at which it is proposed for adoption.
4.	An amendment shall be adopted by the Working Group on the Asian Highway by a two -thirds majority of the Parties present and voting. The amendment as adopted shall be communicated by the secretariat to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall circulate it to all Parties for acceptance.
5.	An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 4 of the present article shall enter into force twelve (12) months after it has been accepted by two thirds of the Parties. The amendment shall enter into force with respect to all Parties except those which, before it enters into force, declare that they do not accept the amendment. Any Party that has declared that it does not accept an amendment adopted in accordance with this paragraph may at any time thereafter deposit an instrument of acceptance of such amendment with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The amendment shall enter into force for that State twelve (12) months after the date of deposit of the said instrument.

Article 9

Procedure for amending annex I to this Agreement

Annex I to this Agreement may be amended by the procedure specified in this article.

Amendments may be proposed by any Party after consultation and obtaining consensus with directly concerned neighbouring States except for an amendment relating to domestic alignment that does not change an international border crossing.

The text of any proposed amendment shall be circulated to all members of the Working Group by the secretariat at least forty-five (45) days before the Working Group meeting at which it is proposed for adoption.

An amendment shall be adopted by the Working Group on the Asian Highway by a majority of the Parties present and voting. The amendment as adopted shall be communicated by the secretariat to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall circulate it to all Parties.

An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 4 of the present article shall be deemed accepted if during a period of six (6) months from the date of the notification, none of the Parties directly concerned notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations of their objection to the amendment.

An amendment accepted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the present article shall enter into force for all the Parties three (3) months after the expiry of the period of six (6) months referred to in paragraph 5 of the present article.

The following shall be considered Parties directly concerned:

(a)

In the case of a new, or the modification of an existing, Asian Highway route substantially crossing more than one subregion, any Party whose territory is crossed by that route; and

(b)

In the case of a new, or the modification of an existing, Asian Highway route within subregions including those connecting to neighbouring subregions, and routes located within member States, any Party contiguous to the requesting State whose territory is crossed by that route or the Asian Highway route substantially crossing more than one subregion with which that route, whether new or to be modified, is connected. Two Parties having in their respective territories the terminal points of a sea link on the Asian Highway route substantially crossing more than one subregion or routes specified above shall also be considered contiguous for the purposes of this paragraph.

For the purpose of objections under paragraph 5 of this article, the secretariat shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, together with the text of the amendment, a list of Parties which are directly concerned by the amendment.

Article 10

Procedure for amending annexes II and III to this Agreement

1.	Annexes II and III to this Agreement may be amende d by the procedure specified in this article.
2.	Amendments may be proposed by any Party.
3.	The text of any proposed amendment shall be circulated to all members of the Working Group by the secretariat at least forty-five (45) days before the Working Group meeting at which it is proposed for adoption.
4.	An amendment shall be adopted by the Working Group on the Asian Highway by a majority of the Parties present and voting. The amendment as adopted shall be communicated by the secretariat to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall circulate it to all Parties.
5.	An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 4 of the present article shall be deemed accepted if during a period of six (6) months from the date of the notification, less than one third of the Parties notify the Secretary- General of the United Nations of their objection to the amendment.
6.	An amendment accepted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the present article shall enter into force for all Parties three (3) months afte r the expiry of the period of six (6) months referred to in paragraph 5 of the present article.

Article 11

Reservations

Reservations may not be made with respect to any of the provisions of this Agreement, except as provided in article 14, paragraph 5.

Article 12

Withdrawal from this Agreement

Any Party may withdraw from this Agreement by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The withdrawal shall take effect one (1) year after the date of receipt by the Secretary-General of such notification.

Article 13

Cessation of validity of this Agreement

This Agreement shall cease to be in force if the number of Parties is less than eight (8) for any period of twelve (12) consecutive months.

Article 14

Settlement of disputes

1.	Any dispute between two or more Parties which relates to the interpretation or application of this Agreement and which the Parties to the dispute are unable to settle by negotiation or consultation shall be referred to conciliation if any of the Parties to the dispute so requests and shall, to that end, be submitted to one or more conciliators selected by mutual agreement between the Parties to the dispute. If the Parties to the dispute fail to agree on the choice of a conciliator or conciliators within three (3) months after the request for conciliation, any of those Parties may request the Secretary General of the United Nations to appoint a single conciliator to whom the dispute shall be submitted.
2.	The recommendation of the conciliator or conciliators appointed in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article, while not binding in character, shall become the basis of renewed consideration by the Parties to the dispute.
3.	By mutual agreement, the Parties to the dispute may agree in advance to accept the recommendation of the conciliator or conciliators as binding.
4.	Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the present article shall not be construed to exclude other measures for the settlement of disputes mutually agreed between the Parties to the dispute.
5.	Any State may, at the time of definitive signature or of depositing its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, deposit a reservation stating that it does not consider itself bound by the provisions of the present article relating to conciliation. Other Parties shall not be bound by the provisions of the present article relating to conciliation with respect to any Party which has deposited such a reservation.

Article 15

Limits to the application of this Agreement

1.	Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as preventing a Party from taking such action, compatible with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and limited to the exigencies of the situation, as it considers necessary to its external or internal security.
2.	A Party shall make every possible effort, subject to the availability of budget and other forms of funding of that Party and in accordance with its laws and regulations, to develop the Asian Highway network consistent with this Agreement.
3.	Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as acceptance of an obligation by any Party to permit the movement of goods and passenger traffic across its territory.

Article 16

In addition to communications provided for in articles 7, 8, 9 and 10 and the reservation provided for in article 14 of this Agreement, the Secretary- General of the United Nations shall notify the Parties and the other States referred to in article 5 of the following:

a.	Definitive signatures, ratifications, acceptances, approvals and accessions under article 5;
b.	The dates of entry into force of this Agreement in accordance with article 6;
c.	The date of entry into force of amendments to this Agreement in accordance with article 8, paragraph 5, article 9, paragraph 6 and article 10, paragraph 6;
d.	Withdrawal under article 12;
e.	The termination of this Agreement under article 13.

Article 17

Annexes to the Agreement

Annexes I, II and III to the Agreement shall form an integral part of this Agreement.

Article 18

Secretariat of the Agreement

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific shall act as the secretariat of this Agreement.

Article 19

Deposit of the present Agreement with the Secretary-General

The original of this Agreement shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall send certified true copies to all the States referred to in article 5 of this Agreement.

In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have signed this Agreement, opened for signature on the twenty-sixth day of April two thousand and four at Shanghai, China, in a single copy in the Chinese, English and Russian languages, the three texts being equally authentic.

Annex I

Asian Highway network

The Asian Highway network consists of highway routes of international importance within Asia, including highway routes substantially crossing more than one subregion such as: East and North-East Asia, South and South-West Asia, South-East Asia and North and Central Asia; highway routes within subregions including those connecting to neighbouring subregions; and highway routes located within member States which provide access to:

(a)	capitals;
(b)	main industrial and agricultural centres;
(c)	major air, sea and river ports;
(d)	major container terminals and depots; and
(e)	major tourist attractions.

Route numbers begin with “AH”, which stands for “Asian Highway”, followed by one or two or three digits.

Single-digit route numbers from 1 to 9 are assigned to Asian Highway routes, which substantially cross more than one subregion.

Sets of two- and three-digit route numbers are assigned to indicate the routes within subregions, including those connecting to a neighbouring subregion, and highway routes within member States as indicated below:

(a)	Route numbers 10-29 and 100-299 are allocated to the South-East Asia subregion including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam;
(b)	Route numbers 30-39 and 300-399 are allocated to the East and North-East Asia subregion including China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation^[1] (Far East);
(c)	Route numbers 40-59 and 400-599 are allocated to the South Asia subregion including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka;
(d)	Route numbers 60-89 and 600-899 are allocated to the North, Central and South-West Asia subregion including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation,^[1] Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

List of the Asian Highway routes

[List omitted]

^[1]	The Russian Federation is included in two subregions for the purpose of assigning route numbers because of its geographic extent.
^[1]	The Russian Federation is included in two subregions for the purpose of assigning route numbers because of its geographic extent.

Annex II

Asian Highway classification and design standards

I - General

The Asian Highway classification and design standards provide the minimum standards and guide lines for the construction, improvement and maintenance of Asian Highway routes. Parties shall make every possible effort to conform to these provisions both in constructing new routes and in upgrading and modernizing existing ones. These standards do not apply to built-up areas.^[1]

II - Classification of Asina Highway routes

Asian Highways are classified as shown in table 1.

[Table omitted]

“Primary” class in the classification refers to access-controlled highways. Access-controlled highways are used exclusively by automobiles. Access to the access-controlled highways is at grade -separated interchanges only. Mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians should not be allowed to enter the access-controlled highway in order to ensure traffic safety and the high running speed of automobiles. At -grade intersections should not be designed on the access-controlled highways and the carriageway should be divided by a median strip.

“Class III” should be used only when the funding for the construction and/or land for the road is limited. The type of pavement should be upgraded to asphalt concrete or cement concrete as soon as possible in the future. Since Class III is also regarded as the minimum desirable standard, the upgrading of any road sections below Class III to comply with the Class III standard should be encouraged.

III - Design standards of Asian Highway routes

Terrain classification

Terrain classification is shown in table 2.

[Table omitted]

Design speed

Design speeds of 120, 100, 80, 60, 50, 40 and 30 kilometres per hour are to be used. The relation between design speed, highway classification and terrain classification is shown in table 3. A design speed of 120 km/h should be used only for Primary class (access-controlled highways), which has median strips and grade -separated interchanges.

[Table omitted]

Cross-section

The dimensions, such as right-of- way width, lane width, shoulder width, median strip width, pavement slope and shoulder slope for each highway classification, are shown in table 4.

Pedestrians, bicycles and animal-drawn carts should be separated from through traffic by the provision, where practical, of frontage roads and/or sidewalks for the sections where smooth traffic is impeded by the existence of such local traffic.

[Table omitted]

Horizontal alignment

The horizontal alignment of the road should be consistent with the topography of the terrain through which it passes. Minimum curve radii should be applied only when necessary and should be used in conjunction with transition curves. Compound curves should be avoided whenever possible. The minimum radii of horizontal curves are shown in table 5 for each highway class.

[Tables 5, 6 and 7 omitted]

Vertical alignment

The vertical alignment of any highway should be as smooth as economically feasible, that is, there should be a balance of cutting and filling to eliminate the rolling nature of land. In the use of the maximum vertical gradient, it should be kept clear in the mind of the designer that, once constructed to a given vertical grade, the highway cannot be upgraded to a lesser gradient without the loss of the entire initial investment. The maximum vertical grade shown in table 8 should be used for all highway classes.

[Tables 8 and 9 omitted]

Pavement

Carriageways should be paved with cement concrete or asphalt concrete. However, Class III may be paved with double bituminous treatment.

The pavement of many road sections in the Asian Highway member countries is damaged owing to insufficient load capacity. The design load for pavements should therefore be determined carefully to prevent damage to the road surface and consequently to reduce maintenance costs.

However, road pavements should be designed taking into account:

(a)	Axle load;
(b)	Traffic volume;
(c)	Quality of materials to be used for basecourse and subgrade (as the quality of road construction materials varies from country to country, the pavement load specification was not included in the Asian Highway standards).

Structure loading

Increasingly heavy traffic, particularly container traffic, requires properly designed load capacity (maximum axle load). In order to prevent serious damage to road structures, and also to reduce maintenance costs, the Asian Highway network, as an international road network, should have a high design load capacity. The minimum design loading of HS 20-44, which is the international standard corresponding to full-size trailer loading, should therefore be used for the design of structures.

Vertical clearance

Minimum vertical clearance should be 4.5 metres, which is the requirement for safe passage of standard ISO containers. However, in cases where sufficient clearance cannot be secured because of the high cost of rebuilding existing structures such as bridges, gooseneck trailers with low vehicle bed clearance may be used.

Environment

An environmental impact assessment, following national standards, should be carried out when new road projects are prepared. It is also desirable to extend this provision to include reconstruction or major improvements of existing roads.

10.

Road safety

While developing the Asian Highway network, Parties shall give full consideration to issues of road safety.

^[1]	The Party should indicate built-up areas in accordance with its requirements.

Annex III

Identificationa and signage of the Asian Highway network

1.	The sign to be used to identify and indicate Asian Highway routes is rectangular in shape.
2.	This sign consists of the letters AH, generally followed by the number in Arabic numerals assigned to the route.
3.	It has a white or black ins cription; it may be affixed to or combined with other signs.
4.	Its size should be such that it can be easily identified and understood by drivers of vehicles travelling at speed.
5.	The sign to be used to identify and indicate Asian Highway routes does not preclude the use of a sign to identify roads on a national basis.
6.	In principle, Asian Highway route numbers will be integrated into (or combined with) the system of directional signs of the member States in question. The numbering can be inserted before as well as after each access road or interchange.
7.	In case States are Parties to both the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network and the European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries, the routes will be indicated by means of either the Asian Highway route sign or the E-road sign, or both at the discretion of the Parties.
8.	In case the Asian Highway route changes over to another route or crosses another Asian Highway route, it is recommended that the relative Asian Highway route numbers be indicated before the access or the interchange