Services of the ATP Testing Facility
Finland joined the Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Special Equipment to be used for such Carriage (ATP) already as far back as 1980. Today, the ATP treaty includes 50 state parties, including almost all the countries of Europe, most Central Asian countries and the United States.
The agreement sets requirements for the insulating and refrigerating capacity of equipment used for the carriage of perishable foodstuffs and on the transport temperature of products. In practice, ATP transport refers to all international carriage of frozen foodstuffs by land. The agreement also applies to the carriage of most chilled foodstuffs.
As an ATP testing station, Eurofins Expert Services Oy performs all tests and inspections in accordance with the ATP agreement intended for verifying the conformity of the transport equipment with the requirements of the treaty.
The testing is performed at the Vakola facility in Vihti.
The ATP certificates are granted by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). At the moment, there are more than 4000 valid certificates.
The requirements of transport-sector operators and of customers purchasing these services have also increased the importance of ATP inspections in domestic transport. Most of the ATP certificates are granted to transport equipment used only domestically.
