On 18 May 1956, in Geneva, the Customs Convention on Containers is signed — the UN/IMO treaty allowing temporary duty- and tax-free admission of intermodal containers.

The text, concluded at the same conference as the conventions on temporary importation of commercial road vehicles and of aircraft/pleasure boats, as well as the CMR, enters into force on 4 August 1959.

Containers may stay up to three months without customs dues. A new convention of 2 December 1972 (in force 6 December 1975) replaces the 1956 text for ratifying states; the International Container Bureau helped revise it.

Forty-four states ratified the 1956 version; by 2016, 40 were parties to 1972. The 1990 Istanbul Convention later unified temporary-admission regimes.

The official text is on the UNTC (chapter XI-A). For containerised trade, Geneva 1956 opened short-term circulation without customs barriers.

The Customs Convention on Containers of 18 May 1956 remains the root of the international temporary-container regime.

Image: Geneva / containers; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Customs Convention on Containers. Treaty text: Customs Convention on Containers (UNTC).