ChemRegs Newsletter – March 2024
Changes to the Dangerous Goods by Air Regulations (ICAO Technical Instructions)
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) met in Montréal in November 2023 and recommended several changes to the air transport rules for incorporation in the 2025-2026 Edition of the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (ICAO Technical Instructions).
The ICAO Technical Instructions are based on the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (Model Regulations) and the International Atomic Energy Agency Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material.
All shipments of hazardous materials transported internationally by air are transported in accordance with the ICAO Technical Instructions and they are updated every two years. The latest revision is the 2023-2024 edition which became effective on January 1, 2023.
The ICAO Technical Instructions contains the only legal source of regulations for the safe transport of dangerous goods by air. However, it is the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) that are used on a day to day basis. The IATA DGR is a “field manual” version of the ICAO Technical Instructions and is written and edited by airline dangerous goods experts. The DGR present the requirements for shipping dangerous goods by air in a user friendly, easy to interpret format.
The DGR also includes additional information which can assist shippers in making sure their consignments are in compliance and will be accepted quickly and easily by the airlines. As IATA airlines are somewhat stricter in their requirements than the ICAO Technical Instructions, the DGR specifies more precisely how to prepare a shipment. Since IATA DGR has included all the ICAO Technical Instructions for dangerous goods, it is generally acknowledged that compliance with the IATA DGR will result in compliance with the ICAO Technical Instructions. The IATA DGR is published every year and the latest version is the 65th edition issued in 2024.
The changes recommended by the Dangerous Goods Panel included (as usual!) various amendments to the lithium battery provisions and the inclusion of provisions for sodium ion batteries. Other changes are based on harmonisation with the UN Model Regulations. The list of proposed changes is too long to be included here and is likely to be summarised later this year when IATA release their list of the significant changes and amendments to the IATA DGR that are due to come into force from 1 January 2025.
Draft amendments to ADR
The Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods has prepared a consolidated list of all the amendments to date to the Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), which it has adopted for the next edition of ADR due for entry into force on 1 January 2025.
This consolidated list covers the amendments adopted by the Working Party at its 111th, 112th, 113th and 114th sessions (see ECE/TRANS/WP.15/258, annex II, ECE/TRANS/WP.15/260, annex, ECE/TRANS/WP.15/262, annex and ECE/TRANS/WP.15/264, annex II).
Various amendments to definitions are included and, like the changes proposed by the ICAO DGP, new provisions on sodium ion batteries have been adopted.
There are eleven new entries in the DG List in Chapter 3:
- UN 0514 FIRE SUPPRESSANT DISPERSING DEVICES, Class 1
- UN 3551 SODIUM ION BATTERIES with organic electrolyte, Class 9
- UN 3552 SODIUM ION BATTERIES CONTAINED IN EQUIPMENT or SODIUM ION BATTERIES PACKED WITH EQUIPMENT, with organic electrolyte, Class 9
- UN 3553 DISILANE, Class 2
- UN 3554 GALLIUM CONTAINED IN MANUFACTURED ARTICLES, Class 8
- UN 3555 TRIFLUOROMETHYLTETRAZOLE-SODIUM SALT IN ACETONE, with not less than 68 % acetone, by mass, Class 3
- UN 3556 VEHICLE, LITHIUM ION BATTERY POWERED, Class 9
- UN 3557 VEHICLE, LITHIUM METAL BATTERY POWERED, Class 9
- UN 3558 VEHICLE, SODIUM ION BATTERY POWERED, Class 9
- UN 3559 FIRE SUPPRESSANT DISPERSING DEVICES, Class 9
- UN 3560 TETRAMETHYLAMMONIUM HYDROXIDE AQUEOUS SOLUTION with not less than 25 % tetramethylammonium hydroxide, Class 6.1 (8)
Other changes have been made to special provisions and packing instructions and to other chapters of ADR.
The full list of draft amendments can be downloaded from here.
Publication of GB mandatory classification and labelling (GB MCL) technical reports
The next batch of GB MCL technical reports for substances classified according to the GB CLP Regulation is now available for download at the end of the GB MCL publication table (.xlsx).
A GB MCL technical report is an independent scientific evaluation of the information submitted under the stand-alone GB mandatory classification and labelling (GB MCL) process or as part of the EU harmonised classification and labelling process (EU CLH).
It sets out whether there is adequate scientific evidence to support a new or revised GB MCL of a substance and what that GB MCL should be. If evidence comes to the attention of HSE that may lead to new or revised GB MCL, then HSE has the scientific and regulatory expertise to prepare a GB MCL proposal.
HSE continues to monitor international forums such as the ECHA Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) for information that may lead to proposals for new or revised GB MCL. When a RAC opinion is published, HSE as the GB CLP Agency must reach an opinion of its own on whether to align with RAC under the Article 37 procedure in the GB CLP Regulation.
GB is free to determine its own GB MCLs where it is justified by supporting scientific data and wider policy considerations. This may result in GB having a different MCL to the for the same substance.
These new GB MCL technical reports relate to substances for which the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) published a RAC Opinion under Article 37(4) of EU CLP during 2023, based on information submitted under the EU CLP Regulation. The scientific information supporting the RAC Opinion is evaluated under the GB MCL system.
The reports include the GB mandatory classification and labelling for 90 chemical substances from the EU 14th and 15th Adaptations to Technical Progress (ATP) to CLP. This has been produced as part of a process of corrective action to address the mandatory status of EU harmonised classification and labelling adopted in 2017 and 2018 for 90 substances in the 14th and 15th ATPs and included in the GB MCL list, which have been identified as having not been retained in GB law at the end of the Implementation Period on 31 December 2020, after the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020.
At the time of publication, the classification and labelling proposed in these technical reports has not been agreed and/or adopted in Great Britain.
For information on the next steps in the process, please see the HSE webpage on the GB MCL system.
For more information on anything in this Newsletter, please contact us at info@chemregs.co.uk