Although 65 countries have signed the TIR Convention currently it can only be used in 55 of them.

The TIR Convention establishes an international customs transit system with maximum facility to move goods:

It is used to refer to an international transit system set up under the TIR Convention 1975, which allows goods to travel across one or more international borders with the minimum of customs involvement.

TIR movements can only be between two Contracting Parties to the TIR Convention ie between the EU and a third country or two third countries via the EU.

If the journey begins outside the EU, the Transport Internationaux Routiers (TIR) procedure can be used for movements to and from countries that are contracting parties to the TIR Convention.

Due to the large blue-and-white TIR plates carried by vehicles using the TIR convention, the word "TIR" entered many languages as a neologism, becoming the default generic name of a large truck.

Transport Internationale Routiers (TIR) is used to move goods, essentially by road, between two Contracting Parties to the TIR Convention or between two points in a participating country as long as the movement passes through a third country.

The Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) is a multilateral treaty that was concluded at Geneva on 14 November 1975 to simplify and harmonise the administrative formalities of international road transport.