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 much welcomed timeliness of course were to ensure that the decisions taken with respect to lithium batteries could be considered, ratified and implemented by ICAO’s governance structure with a minimum of delay.
The DGP had suggested that its recommendations on a state of charge limitation for lithium ion batteries, consignment restrictions for Section II consignments be adopted and implemented as an amendment to the 2015-2016 ICAO Technical Instructions as of 1st April 2016.
Just prior to the end of year break, ICAO announced that the DGP’s decisions had been ratified and would be implemented as intended, i.e., 1st April. The addendum which will identify the specific changes which have been made is expected this week. However, it was noted that two other ICAO panels (AVSEC and Airworthiness) had additional concerns with lithium batteries and these required additional review and study before a final determination on lithium battery consignments could be made. In short, changes are still possible!
We’ll keep you posted on the announcement of the addendum. Here is more on the 25th Meeting of the ICAO DGP.
For more information about these regulatory updates, please contact Neil McCulloch, Senior Manager, International Product Development.
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