ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel Report
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has released the report of the twenty-third meeting of the Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) which was held in Montreal Canada last October. Click to read the 447 page report.
During the meeting, the DGP agreed on several proposals to amend the 2013-2014 edition of the Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and related publications.
If these amendments are formally adopted into the Instructions by ICAO, they may appear in the International Air Transport Association’s Dangerous Goods Regulations (IATA DGR) as early as January 2013.
This report includes the minutes of the Panel’s discussion and the full text of the proposed changes to the Instructions. Several of the proposals are particularly noteworthy.
The most controversial item is probably the Panel’s decision to not make any major changes to the provisions for shipping lithium batteries. Despite petitions from the Universal Postal Union to allow lithium batteries and equipment in airmail, and from the FAA to strictly limit battery shipments in aircraft, the panel decided to keep the lithium battery rules largely as they are. In part because shippers were just now getting used to the revised regulations first published in 2009, another significant revision so soon could create confusion and compromise safety.
Other proposed amendments include:
- Adding definitions for the terms “misdeclared” and “undeclared” dangerous goods,
- Replacing the term “prohbited” with “forbidden” wherever it appears,
- Allowing small packages to display a reduced size version of the limited quantity marking,
- Clarifying that overpacks must display the new limited quantity marking when they contain limited quantity packages,
- New provisions for dangerous goods carried in helicopters,
- Revised criteria for classifying viscous flammable liquids.
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