Keeping pace with U.S. DOT’s PHMSA (U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) the U.S. Postal Service announced changes to their respective hazardous materials standards affecting the safe transportation of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries.
According to the Notice published in today’s Federal Register (January 26, 2015, Volume 80, No. 16, pp 3996-3998), the Postal Service has revised its own standards for customers mailing lithium ion and lithium metal batteries including batteries packed with or contained in equipment. Specifically, various sections of Publication 52, Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail will be further aligned with the U.S. domestic hazardous materials regulations (HMR) located in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 49. Various provisions of 49 CFR covering the transport of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries were recently updated by PHMSA in August of 2014 (August 6, 2014, Federal Register Volume 79, No. 151, pp 46012-46040). Such changes are deemed necessary to maintain alignment with the international hazardous materials transport standards.
Highlighted here are notable modifications to the standard:
- Use of terminology describing lithium content with watt-hours for lithium-ion cells and batteries;
- Adoption of separate shipping descriptions for lithium metal batteries and lithium-ion batteries;
- New requirements for the transport of small lithium cells and batteries contained in equipment; and
- New marking requirements and options for lithium batteries installed in equipment packaged with equipment and shipped without equipment.
The agency clarified the international lithium battery postal regulations which only authorize the lithium batteries contained in equipment with not more than 2 batteries or 4 cells per package. The adherence of the Lithium Battery Handling Label is prohibited by the Postal Service for mail pieces intended for international mail (see FR page 3997). US Postal Service customers preparing to transport mail pieces containing lithium batteries including those installed and packed with equipment should take note of this Federal Register Notice and should review the actual changes to Pub 52 that will be published on February 5th. The specific revisions to Publication 52, will be published in Postal Bulletin 22408 on February 5, 2015, and can be viewed at http://about.usps.com/postalbulletin.
The changes to Publication 52 become effective March 2, 2015. You may access the entire contents of this Notice by following the link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-01-26/pdf/2015-01346.pdf. Once the February 5th rule is published Labelmaster will provide a comprehensive summary.
For more on lithium batteries, check out our helpful resources:
Lithium Battery Shipping Information
The Changing Regulations Pertaining to Lithium Batteries
Lithium Battery Packaging Application
Labelmaster is a full service provider of goods and services for the Hazardous Materials and Dangerous Goods professional, shippers, transport operators, and EH&S providers. Please see our full line of compliant solutions at www.labelmaster.com including our new peel away lithium battery document.
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