It was signed by Austria, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. The treaty entered into force on 21 November 1976 after it had been ratified by five states. ATP was intended to replace the Agreement on Special Equipment for the Transport of Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Use of such Equipment for the International Transport of some of those Foodstuffs, which was concluded in 1962 but never received enough ratifications to enter into force.[1]