TIR-EPD is an IRU application through which a carrier operating under a TIR carnet sends cargo data electronically to customs before the truck reaches the border. The TIR Green Lane is a crossing lane reserved for TIR trucks that have been pre-declared and cleared by customs to use it. For these trucks, formalities at the border can be limited to scanning and stamping the carnet.
What exactly is TIR-EPD?
TIR-EPD (TIR Electronic Pre-Declaration) is an application developed by IRU that lets a TIR carrier send cargo data electronically to the customs administration before the truck arrives at the border. According to IRU, the application is connected to customs systems and allows messages to be exchanged with several customs administrations along a journey. Customs carries out its risk analysis before the truck arrives and decides in advance which vehicle will be selected for a physical check.
TIR-EPD is not a separate customs regime. The transport still runs under a TIR carnet and the same guarantee chain; the only change is that the cargo data reaches the border before the truck. According to IRU, TIR is the only global transit system, with 78 Contracting Parties and a guarantee of up to EUR 100,000 per transport.
How does the TIR Green Lane work?
The TIR Green Lane (TIR-EPD Green Lane) is a crossing lane, on both sides of a border gate, reserved for trucks that have submitted a pre-declaration through TIR-EPD. As IRU defines it, TIR trucks that customs allows to use this lane are subject at the border only to the scanning and stamping of their carnets. This advantage depends on two conditions:
- the cargo data must have been sent electronically before the truck arrives,
- customs must allow the truck to use the green lane after its risk analysis.
If the risk analysis calls for a check, the truck can still be selected for inspection. The green lane is a priority arrangement; it does not mean there will be no waiting at the border at all.
What is the difference between TIR-EPD, the Green Lane and eTIR?
| Concept | What it does | Paper carnet |
|---|---|---|
| TIR-EPD | Sends cargo data electronically to customs in advance | Still used |
| TIR Green Lane | Gives pre-declared, cleared trucks a separate lane at the border | Still used; scanned and stamped |
| eTIR | In IRU's words, the fully digital equivalent of TIR | Replaced by an electronic declaration and electronic guarantee |
How eTIR works is explained in the eTIR system entry. The red, yellow and green channels used by Turkish customs are a different concept, showing the risk channel assigned to a declaration; details are in the red, yellow and green channels in customs entry.
What is proposed for Gürbulak–Bazargan?
According to a news item published by IRU on 13 August 2026, IRU, its members UND and ITCAI in Iran, customs administrations and industry representatives examined the Gürbulak–Bazargan and Dilucu–Sadarak gates during recent site visits. IRU reported that TIR-EPD and the TIR Green Lane are applied together at Dilucu and that TIR trucks sending advance information cross the gate more efficiently. IRU said it encourages the wider use of this model in the region and that a rapid move to eTIR would strengthen the security of the corridor.
According to a September 2026 report in the Turkish business daily Dünya, the agenda of the Turkish–Iranian joint commission set up to address waiting at Gürbulak also includes wider use of the TIR carnet and a move to eTIR. In these sources, the green lane at Gürbulak–Bazargan appears not as an arrangement already in place but as a model proposed for wider use. The causes of waiting at the gate are covered in the truck waiting at Gürbulak entry.
What changes for the carrier and the shipper?
- Carrier: Must make the pre-declaration correctly and on time; any difference between the cargo and the declaration removes the green lane advantage.
- Shipper: Should provide the invoice, packing list, tariff code (GTİP), number of packages and weight in full before loading, since the pre-declaration is based on this data.
- Both: A pre-declaration is not a promise on timing; the real gain is that the decision on checks is made before the truck reaches the border.
How carnets and transit documents are used on the Turkey–Iran lane is explained on the bonded and transit transport and Turkey–Iran road freight pages.