Lithium Battery by Air

¡P NEW Dangerous Goods Best Practice 008 ¡V ¡§Best Practice for the Acceptance of Cargo Consignment containing Lithium Cell / Battery by Airlines in Hong Kong¡¨, jointly issued by the Dangerous Goods Working Group under the Carrier Liaison Group (CLG-DGWG)and HAFFA

- BP008 (With effect from 01 Jan 2010)

[Highlighted version: Download here]

[Clean version: Download here]

In response to the changes in the 51st Edition IATA DGR (2010) (with effect from 01 January 2010) particularly on the lithium battery, the CLG-DGWG has finished the BP reviewing process as new BP008.

Please note the number of the best practice will change from "BP007" to "BP008" to avoid confusion in the market. That means, ¡§Dangerous Goods Best Practice BP008¡¨ will replace ¡§BP007¡¨ with effect from 01 January 2010.

¡P Highlights in Yellow of the key amendments to take note in BP 008:

(1) Change of Terms applied for All kinds of Lithium cell/Battery shipment:

- Shipped as ¡§Not Restricted¡¨:

n ¡§Part 1¡¨ indicated in the IATA PI965-PI970 will be renamed as ¡§ Section II¡¨.

n The term ¡§Excepted¡¨ is meaning the same as the term ¡§Not Restricted¡¨ in the IATA PI965-PI970.

- Shipped as ¡§Dangerous Goods, Class 9¡¨:

n ¡§Part 2¡¨ indicated in the PI965-PI970 will be renamed as ¡§ Section I¡¨

That means, in the IATA DGR (51^st Edition), IATA firstly swapped Part 1(Not Restricted) and Part 2 (DG) of PI965-PI970, and then renamed them to become Section I (DG) and Section II (Not Restricted).

(2) Additional New Step under Section C of Part 1:

- Step 1: Information on MAWB in the ¡§Additional Handling Information¡¨ Column (i.e. Handling Information)

1. The type of cell or battery:

¡P Lithium ion cells / Lithium ion batteries / Lithium metal cells / Lithium metal batteries

2. The text: ¡§Not Restricted¡¨

3. The relevant Packing Instruction: ¡§PI965 / PI966 / PI967 / PI968 / PI969 / PI970¡¨

- Step 2: Information on a Separate Document

n No change except some wordings are renamed as ¡§Section II¡¨

(3) Additional Remark under Section D of Part 1 and Part 2:

- States Variations

- Please be reminded that it is the responsibility of the shipper/forwarder to check on the ¡§States Variations¡¨. For example, the major State Variation you need to note in year 2010, is STILL the USG-02 which is applying for transporting the lithium metal batteries and cells to, from or through the United States of America.

(4) Part 3 - Additional Information

Part 3 ¡V Correct ways for shippers to complete the ¡§Shipper Letter of Instruction ¡V SLI¡¨

Shippers should clearly indicate below information on SLI when passing to Forwarders:

1. The type of cell or battery:

¡P Lithium ion cells / Lithium ion batteries / Lithium metal cells / Lithium metal batteries

2. The relevant Packing Instruction: ¡§PI965 / PI966 / PI967 / PI968 / PI969 / PI970¡¨

3. Section of Packing Instruction referring: ¡§Section I / Section II¡¨

¡P Other relevant links:

- IATA webpage on Lithium Battery:

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dangerous_goods/lithium_batteries.htm

- IATA Guidance Document on Transport of Lithium Metal and Lithium Ion Batteries:

à Year 2010 version [with Packing Instruction (PI)]:

Guidance Document and Packing Instruction (PI) for Lithium Batteries:

http://www.iata.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Documents/GuidanceDocumentontheTransportofLiBatt_2010.pdf

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Updated: 30 Aug 2010