IATA has published the list of significant changes to the 52nd Edition of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.

Here are some of the changes:

Under Section 1.3, Shipper’s Responsibilities, there is a mandatory requirement to retain a copy of the Shipper’s Declaration for a minimum period of 3 months.

For dangerous goods in Limited Quantities, the provisions have been revised. A new marking has been adopted and text is no longer required on the Shipper’s Declaration.

Amendments to the List of Dangerous Goods include the adoption of new packing instruction numbers for all substances in classes 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 and dividion 6.1, new UN numbers entries and a significant number of generic and n.o.s. proper shipping names now require the addition of the technical name.

Changes to special provisons and new special provisions.

Changes to general packing requirements include new requirements for closures for inner packagings for liquids. Now requires a secondary means of maintaining the closure. In the absence of secondary means, the inner packaging(s) must be placed in a leakproof liner. Provisions for absorbent material in paragraph 5.0.12.2 and for liners in 5.0.12.3 have been deleted. When such requirements exists they have now been placed directly in the applicable packing instructions as Additional Packing Requirements.

All of the reformatted packing instructions included in Appendix H in the 51st Edition have now been incorporated into the body of the Regulations. There is a three-month transition period to allow for packages prepared for transport before December 31, 2010 using packing instructions in the 51st Edition to be presented for transport until March 31, 2011.

The packing instructions in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO’s) Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and consequently the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations have been the subject of an extensive review by the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) over the last four years. This will result in significant revisions to their design and content.

These reformatted packing instructions:

• Removed the inconsistencies apparent in the existing packing instructions
• Introduce a systemic allocation of substances and articles to packing instructions within each class or division. This included for the majority of substances a clear separation of substances by packing group, passenger aircraft or CAO, liquid or solid. Some substances had characteristics that set them apart from these standard groupings, e.g. mercaptans, chloroform, wetted explosives. These substances were assigned to a “special” packing instruction
• Removed the PPR and instead introduced, when required, clear "Additional Packing Requirements" that apply to all substances or articles in that packing instruction

This information is provided in the 2009-2010 edition of the ICAO Technical Instructions and in the 51st edition of the IATA DGR. The DGP agreed to a 3-month transition period to allow shippers to take care of any "in-stock" dangerous goods shipments. The transition period will allow for shipments prepared on or before December 31st, 2010 to be accepted for transport until March 31st, 2011.

IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, 52nd Edition

Available as of October 2010 and recognized by the world’s airlines for over 50 years, the latest versions of IATA’s DGR are the most complete, and up-to-date reference materials available to the industry.

Staying in compliance with the latest regulations is critical for safely shipping dangerous goods by air. This year’s changes to the regulations incorporate substantial changes that will have a direct impact to all involved in the transport of dangerous goods by air. These changes include:

• All new reformatted packing instructions for Classes 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 and Division 6.1, as well as changes to the new and existing packing instructions;
• New entries in the list of dangerous goods;
• Revisions to the provisions for magnetized materials;
• Provisions to allow for the air transport of solid environmentally hazardous substances in intermediate bulk containers (IBC);
• Completely revised marking for limited quantity packages to more closely align to the provisions for surface transport as set out in the UN Model Regulations.