January 27, 2015: COSTHA to co-host 3rd UN Lithium Battery Working Group Meeting with REACH and PRBA The Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles (COSTHA) will co-host the 3rd Session of the current United Nations (UN) Informal Working Group on Lithium Batteries in Bordeaux, France between March 30 and April 1, 2016. The preliminary…
DG Digest: More Lithium Battery News, PHMSA Special Permits and FRA Fines Hit Record Heights
Several items of note occurred in the DG world last week, with new and revised regulations affecting everything from Limited Quantities to Lithium Batteries and a vital Federal Agency noting that its enforcement penalties were way up: ICAO/IATA Lithium Battery Rules Changes Both the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association…
DG Digest: ICAO’s Lithium Battery Changes Coming to The Technical Instructions
Long-time observers of the various UN dangerous goods organizations could be forgiven for double checking their calendars in November, as the ICAO Secretariat issued the final report of the 25th meeting of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) less than 3 weeks after the conclusion of the meeting. The reason for this surprising and…
DG Digest: FMCSA lowers truckers’ substance test rates, will hold FAST sessions; FRA begins PTC data collection
December 24: FMCSA cuts random truckers’ testing rate for substance abuse to 25%. Good news for truck drivers and carriers—the United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has cut the random testing rate for substance abuse in half, from 50% to 25%. This should produce a nice savings for carriers,…