Who is FIATA?

FIATA, in French "Fédération Internationale des Associations de Transitaires et Assimilés", in English "International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations", in German "Internationale Féderation der Spediteurorganisationen", was founded in Vienna/Austria on May 31, 1926.

FIATA, a non-governmental organization, represents today an industry covering approximately 40,000 forwarding and logistics firms, also known as the "Architects of Transport", employing around 8 - 10 million people in 150 countries.

FIATA has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (inter alia ECE, ESCAP, ESCWA), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

It is recognized as representing the freight forwarding industry by many other governmental organizations, governmental authorities, private international organizations in the field of transport such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Union of Railways (UIC), the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), etc.

 In summary FIATA is the largest non-governmental organization in the field of transportation. Its influence is worldwide

Objectives

· To unite the freight forwarding industry worldwide.
· To represent, promote and protect the interests of the industry by participating as advisors or experts in meetings of international bodies dealing with transportation.
· To familiarize trade and industry and the public at large with the services rendered by freight forwarders through the dissemination of information, distribution of publications, etc.
· To improve the quality of services rendered by freight forwarders by developing and promoting uniform forwarding documents, standard trading conditions, etc.
· To assist with vocational training for freight forwarders, liability insurance problems, tools for electronic commerce including electronic data interchange (EDI) and barcode.

Organization

FIATA is structured into Institutes, Advisory Bodies, and Working Groups each in their turn dealing with every aspect that affects the international movement of freight.

The Institutes, which usually meet twice per year, carry out the technical work of the Federation. Currently FIATA has three, namely the
  Airfreight Institute (AFI)
  Customs Affairs Institute (CAI)
  Multimodal Transport Institute (MTI)

Some of the Institutes have some permanent Working Groups; e.g. the MTI has three for Sea, Rail and Road Transport, and the AFI one for IATA matters. Working Groups are reported to their respective Institutes and meet according to necessity.

For matters that affect the whole of the freight forwarding industry there are five Advisory Bodies:
   · Advisory Body Dangerous Goods (ABDG)
   · Advisory Body Information Technology (ABIT)
   · Advisory Body Legal Matters (ABLM)
   · Advisory Body Public Relations (ABPR)
   · Advisory Body Vocational Training (ABVT)

They co-operate with the Institutes and Working Groups, if required, and meet according to necessity.

Congresses & Events

Each year, FIATA holds a World Congress. This international event brings together the freight forwarding industry and transport world. It serves to conduct the business of the Federation, is a social occasion and last but not least acts as a meeting place to conduct business.

FIATA National Association members are divided into 4 regions worldwide. These are:
  · Africa/Middle East
  · Americas
  · Asia/Pacific
  · Europe

Each Region meets twice a year; during the HQ Session in Zurich and at the FIATA World Congress. The prime target of these regional meetings is to bring forward the specific issues of regional concern and interest, and if necessary submit them to the Institutes and Advisory Bodies of FIATA. The intention is to identify and assist regional members in solving the local difficulties. Another important topic is to gain synergies between the member countries of the regions and to import and export these benefits to other national associations.

Another annual event organized by FIATA is the Headquarters Session, which is being held every March in Zurich/Switzerland details

"WG Meetings" gives you information on forthcoming meetings of the various technical bodies of FIATA. For more information on these meetings please contact the responsible Manager at the FIATA Secretariat details

For your information only a list of international events organized by third parties is published under Third Party Events. This list contains events which may be of interest to you. For more information on such events, please contact directly the organizers details