ADR 2027: What Changes vs ADR 2025 (Full Summary)

By the MYDG.SHOP Dangerous Goods Team — DGSA-certified

ADR 2027 is the edition of the European road dangerous goods agreement that applies from 1 January 2027, replacing ADR 2025. The amendments were accepted without objection, and ADR 2025 may still be used until 30 June 2027. The biggest changes affect lithium and sodium-ion batteries, the instructions in writing, aerosols and driver training.

Where things stand (2 November 2026). The amendments are final, but UNECE has not yet published the consolidated ADR 2027 book for free — it is sold through the United Nations Publications website. This article is therefore based on the official amendment texts (ECE/TRANS/WP.15/274 and its addendum). We will update it, and add exact paragraph numbers where they differ, as soon as the full text is available.

Is ADR 2027 really happening?

Yes. ADR is amended through the procedure in Article 14 of the Agreement. The amendments adopted by the UNECE Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP.15) were notified to the Contracting Parties on 1 July 2026 (depositary notification C.N.252.2026). The three-month objection period ended on 1 October 2026, and the United Nations confirmed on 9 October 2026 (C.N.395.2026) that no objection had been received, so the amendments enter into force on 1 January 2027.

What can still change is only editorial: UNECE may issue further corrigenda, and each country publishes its own implementing rules. For the previous cycle, see our summary of ADR 2025 and the IATA DGR 67th edition.

The six-month transition: when must you switch?

Like previous editions, ADR 2027 comes with a general transitional period. ADR 2025 contains the rule in 1.6.1.1: unless otherwise provided, substances and articles may be carried until 30 June 2025 in accordance with the previous edition. The ADR 2027 amendments replace the years in that paragraph, which moves the same rule forward by one edition.

• Applicable from: 1 January 2027.
• General transition: ADR 2025 may still be used until 30 June 2027.
• Mandatory for everyone: from 1 July 2027, except where a specific provision has its own, longer transitional measure (see below).

Because ADR is an agreement between States, the rules are applied through national legislation. Check your country's implementing text and your DGSA for the exact application date.

1. Lithium and sodium-ion batteries: the biggest change

Batteries are where most shippers will feel ADR 2027.

• New entries for batteries installed in cargo transport units. UN 3563 (lithium metal batteries installed in cargo transport unit) and UN 3564 (sodium ion batteries installed in cargo transport unit) are new. UN 3536 is renamed LITHIUM ION BATTERIES INSTALLED IN CARGO TRANSPORT UNIT. Orange-coloured plates are required on both sides of these units (5.3.2.1.4, except as provided in 1.1.3.6), with hazard identification number 90.
• Hybrid batteries (lithium ion and sodium ion cells in the same battery) are now covered (2.2.9.1.7.1 (h) and special provision 410). They are assigned to UN 3480, 3481 or 3536, and when carried under special provision 188 they are limited to 100 Wh, marked on the outside case.
• UN 3552 (sodium ion batteries) is split into two entries: contained in equipment and packed with equipment.
• Special provision 680 (new) applies to UN 3090, 3091, 3480, 3481, 3551 and 3552. When a packaging is designed for use under the conditions described in packing instruction P911 or LP906, the consignor must give the loader and the carrier a description of the surrounding conditions, attached to the transport document.
• Button cells fitted in equipment alongside other cells or batteries no longer count towards package or consignment limits under special provision 188, and their UN number does not have to appear on the battery mark.
• Repaired or remanufactured batteries: a battery changed by repair, refurbishment or remanufacture may be considered different from the tested type (Note 2 in 2.2.9.1.7.1 (a) and 2.2.9.1.7.2 (a)).

For the full lithium picture across ADR and IATA, see our guide to lithium battery transport.

2. Instructions in writing: new wording

The text of the instructions in writing (5.4.3.4) is revised. The headline change is the wording of the hazard descriptions: "Risk of fire" becomes "May cause fire", and the same applies to explosion, asphyxiation, intoxication and other hazards. "Risk" becomes "Hazardous" in several rows, and "Hazard" for Class 7. The first instruction also replaces "master switch" with "feature to enable de-energization of the electrical systems".

There is a specific transitional measure (1.6.1.58): instructions in writing that complied with ADR up to 31 December 2026 but do not meet the new 5.4.3 may still be used until 31 December 2027. Update your templates and the copies carried in vehicles during 2027.

3. Labels and marks: what does not change

In the amendment lists published to date, the hazard label models of 5.2.2.2 are not amended — no new label, no change of design or colour. What changes is around them:

• Battery mark position (5.2.1.9.3, new). When both the battery mark and hazard labels (other than model 9A) are required, the battery mark goes on the same face of the package as the labels, if the package dimensions allow it.
• Labels required for some UN numbers. Table A now requires an additional class 8 label for UN 1040, 1041 and 3300, a 6.1 label for UN 1727, and 6.1 and 8 for UN 2372. New UN 3563 and 3564 take label 9.
• New marks of text: ARTICLE CONTAINING DANGEROUS GOODS for certain used articles (see section 5).

4. Classification: aerosols, infectious substances and new entries

• Aerosols and chemicals under pressure (2.2.2). A new group FC (flammable, corrosive) is introduced. The list of what is not accepted for carriage grows: aerosols whose contents meet the classification criteria of explosives, desensitized explosives, self-reactive substances, Classes 4.2, 4.3 and 5.2, toxic substances of packing group I, infectious substances, radioactive material and corrosive substances of packing group I are not accepted. Chemicals under pressure get a similar list, which also includes oxidizing substances.
• Infectious substances (2.2.62.1.4). Categories A and B are rewritten. Category A is defined by what happens when exposure occurs — release outside the protective packaging; the table of examples is indicative, not exhaustive; and if there is doubt, the substance is placed in Category A. The proper shipping name of UN 3373 (BIOLOGICAL SUBSTANCE, CATEGORY B) now appears in the text itself.
• Energetic samples (2.1.4.3). Samples of certain organic substances may be carried as self-reactive substances type C (UN 3223, 3224, 3233, 3234) up to 200 g per outer packaging, if decomposition-energy criteria are met.
• Articles too dangerous for carriage are explicitly not accepted (2.2.1.2.3).
• Table A. New entries include UN 3561 and UN 3562 (chlorophenols, corrosive); UN 2020 and 2021 are renamed "CHLOROPHENOLS, TOXIC, SOLID/LIQUID, N.O.S."; UN 2348 gets a packing group II line; UN 2862 is split by respirable-particle content; UN 2857 and 3358 now include heating machines. Several gas entries (UN 1040, 1041, 3300) move to codes with a corrosive subsidiary hazard, and UN 2941 is deleted.

5. Packaging and waste

• Solids that may become liquid in transit (4.1.3.4). The packaging list is rewritten, and P002, P410, IBC04, IBC05 and LP02 now point to it.
• Empty, uncleaned drums and IBCs (4.1.1.11.2, new). Drums and IBCs of more than 150 litres with small residues that can only be removed with disproportionate effort may be carried for disposal, recycling or recovery even if their period of use, inspection date or documentation has expired — with a list of exclusions (for example classes 1, 2, 4.2, 4.3, 5.2, 6.2 and 7, and packing group I residues) and conditions on closure, marking and the transport document.
• Used articles contaminated with residues (2.1.5.7, new). Used articles, machinery and apparatus carried for repair, inspection, maintenance, disposal or recycling can be exempt from the other ADR provisions if a list of conditions is met, including the mark "ARTICLE CONTAINING DANGEROUS GOODS" and the statement "Transport in accordance with ADR 2.1.5.7" in the transport document.
• Peroxides: metal packagings that pass the packing group I hydraulic test should not be used where it would cause unnecessary confinement (4.1.7.1.1).
• Technical updates: new ISO references (for example ISO 535:2023 for paper and board, ISO 1496-3:2019 for portable tanks), recycled plastics definitions and a new "pressure volume product" limit of 1.5 million bar litres for gas receptacles.

Re-check your packing choices with the ADR substance lookup and the free tools on MYDG HUB.

6. Driver training: e-learning is allowed, but not entirely

Chapter 8.2 now defines e-learning (asynchronous) and remote training (synchronous). Initial training may be in person, remote or a combination. Refresher training may be in person, remote, e-learning or a combination — but the theoretical part cannot be delivered entirely as e-learning, and individual practical exercises must always be in person (8.2.2.4.3 and 8.2.2.5.4). ADR 2025 has no such provisions.

7. Vehicles and tanks

• Tyre pressure monitoring (9.2.9). Required on vehicles first registered after 1 July 2027 (all motor vehicles, and trailers above 3.5 tonnes, according to the corrigendum).
• Rear bumper (9.7.6 and 9.8.5) to UN Regulation No. 58, with at least 150 mm to the rear of the tank; older vehicles registered before 1 January 2029 may continue.
• Wheel thermal protection (9.7.9.3) and new requirements for bodywork rechargeable energy storage systems (9.7.10).
• Tanks: new heating-system and electrical requirements, a reorganised 6.8.3.2, a 15-year inspection interval for certain seamless steel cylinders of battery-vehicles (mark "P15Y"), and fibre-reinforced plastic service equipment for portable tanks (new 6.9.3). From 1 January 2030, a new tank may no longer be approved both as a portable tank and as a tank-container.

Key transitional dates

• 30 June 2027: end of the general period for using ADR 2025 (1.6.1.1).
• 31 December 2027: old instructions in writing (1.6.1.58).
• 31 December 2028: some standards, for example ISO 18119 for gas cylinder inspection (1.6.2.23).
• 1 January 2029: tanks, tank-containers and vehicles built or registered before this date can keep using the old requirements for several of the changes above.
• 31 December 2030: old tank code for UN 2372, salvage pressure receptacles, and the old 1.1.3.6 table note for some Class 1 and gas entries.
• 31 December 2034: plastic drums of 5–20 litres with UN 3082 below a defined M-factor threshold, and bulk containers to ISO 1496-4:1991.

Your pre-1 January checklist

1. Know your edition. Until 31 December 2026 you work to ADR 2025; from 1 January 2027 to ADR 2027, with the 30 June 2027 transition.
2. Review your battery shipments. UN numbers, special provisions 188 and 680, battery mark position, and placards on units with installed batteries.
3. Update instructions in writing before 31 December 2027.
4. Check aerosol and chemical-under-pressure products against the new not-accepted list.
5. Re-check Table A entries you use — especially UN 1040, 1041, 3300, 1727, 2372, 2348, 2862 and the chlorophenols.
6. Plan training. Decide what can move to remote or e-learning and what must stay in person.
7. Re-check exemptions. Run your assumptions through the 1.1.3.6 exemption calculator, since the table note on transport category 1 is deleted.

The role of your DGSA

Your Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (ADR 1.8.3) is the person who confirms how these changes apply to your operation and which national date applies. This summary helps you prepare; it does not replace the regulation or your DGSA's assessment.

Frequently asked questions

When does ADR 2027 apply?

From 1 January 2027. The amendments were notified on 1 July 2026 and the United Nations confirmed on 9 October 2026 that no objections were received. ADR 2025 may still be used until 30 June 2027 under the general transitional rule.

Is the full ADR 2027 text available?

Not for free yet. UNECE sells the printed and editable electronic editions through the United Nations Publications website. The amendments themselves are public (ECE/TRANS/WP.15/274 and its addendum), and they are what this article is based on.

Do the hazard labels change in ADR 2027?

The label models in 5.2.2.2 are not amended. What changes is the position of the battery mark (same face as the labels where possible), and the labels required for some UN numbers in Table A — for example an additional class 8 label for UN 1040, 1041 and 3300.

What are the main changes for lithium batteries?

New entries UN 3563 and UN 3564 for batteries installed in cargo transport units, a renamed UN 3536 ("lithium ion"), rules for hybrid lithium/sodium-ion batteries, a new special provision 680, and button cell relief under special provision 188.

Do I need to retrain my staff?

In practice, yes: anyone who classifies, packs, marks, labels or documents dangerous goods should be trained on the rules in force. Your DGSA can confirm what each role needs, and what can now be delivered remotely.

Want to check how ADR 2027 affects your shipments? Ask MYDGADR about the road rules, have an air shipment verified with MYDG2CHECK, or contact the MYDG.SHOP team.

Sources

• UNECE, ECE/TRANS/WP.15/274 and Corr.1, and ECE/TRANS/WP.15/274/Add.1 and Corr.1 — Draft amendments to annexes A and B of ADR, for entry into force on 1 January 2027.
• United Nations depositary notifications C.N.252.2026.TREATIES-XI.B.14 (1 July 2026) and C.N.395.2026.TREATIES-XI.B.14 (9 October 2026).
• UNECE, ADR 2025 (ECE/TRANS/352), used as the baseline for the comparison (1.6.1.1, 2.2.2.2.2, 5.4.3.4 and others).
• UNECE, Dangerous Goods — "ADR 2027: Amendments set to enter into force on 1 January 2027" (consulted 2 November 2026).

This article summarises the amendment texts available at the date of publication and is an aid to decision, not a substitute for it. Paragraph numbers refer to the amendment lists and may differ in the published ADR 2027. How each change applies to a given consignment is for the company and, where appointed, its dangerous goods safety adviser to determine. Always check the text in force.