ICAO Posts Addendum II to Dangerous Goods Technical Instructions

On September 10, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) released Addendum II to its 2015–16 Technical Instructions (TI) for the safe transport of dangerous goods by air.

In addition to changes for lithium battery shippers, revisions to the ICAO TI include a number of grammatical fixes, minor corrections, and updates to the State and operator variations. View the full ICAO Addendum II here.

Shipping Lithium Batteries by Air

Among the changing standards in the ICAO Addendum are a number of revisions and additions related to acceptance of lithium batteries as air cargo. Many air carriers have added new restrictions for lithium batteries as cargo. Lithium battery shippers (especially air shippers) can expect more changes to the rules as ICAO prepares to host its Dangerous Goods Panel in Montreal next month.

Lithium battery shippers should view the Addendum to see if their shipping operations will be affected.

For US shippers, new lithium battery rules are nothing new: US DOT’s revised standards for lithium batteries went into effect on August 7 this year.

Changes for FedEx Shippers

One of the major cargo air carriers, FedEx, also updated its operator variations in this ICAO Addendum. The following FedEx operator variations were amended to read as follows:

FX-02—Except for UN 1230—Methanol and excepted quantities, substances with a primary or subsidiary risk of Division 6.1 in PG I or II:

• With an origin and destination with the US, including PR, will be accepted only if in approved DOT exemption/special permit packagings; and
• Will be accepted for international transport in “V” rated combination packaging.

FX-18—Shippers’ declarations for dangerous goods for all FedEx Express dangerous good shipments originating in the US must be prepared using software with DG compliance edit checks and by one of the following methods:

• Certain FedEx electronic shipping solutions;
• Recognized shipper proprietary software; or
• FedEx recognized dangerous goods vendor software.

FX-18 does not apply to non-US originating shipments (including US territories overseas, like Puerto Rico), FedEx IXF and IP1 shippers, or shipments containing Class 7 radioactive materials.

What Is ICAO?

ICAO is an agency of the UN dedicated to safe air transport of passengers and cargo. The ICAO dangerous goods Technical Instructions (TI) are incorporated into the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations, the manual followed by hazmat air shippers worldwide. These rules can also filter into the US Department of Transportation’s domestic hazmat shipping rules; DOT posts “harmonization” rulemaking periodically to keep US rules up to date with the latest international standards.

Learn more about ICAO,IATA, and the hazmat/dangerous goods air shipping regulations here: The Hazmat Air Shipping Rule-makers

Tags: hazmat, IATA, new rules