Changes to State and Operator Variations

If you ship by air, you know that there are state and operator variations in the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Did you know that there are over 1200 of them?

Wow, that is a lot to keep track of if you ship globally!

Every year, when the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations are published, variations are changed. Often, these changes catch shippers off guard.

I thought I would highlight some of the noteworthy new editions and changes in the 66^th edition.

First, let’s review some basics:

State and operator variations are found in Section 2 of the regulations.
A square symbol beside an entry means it is new to this edition.
A triangle symbol beside the entry means it has changed since the previous edition.

Let’s start with State (aka country) variations.

Belarus -BYG has been added.

BYG-04 is interesting because it wants Markings for dangerous goods to be in the Russian language. For international transport, markings in English shall be provided.

Canada has reordered their variations. See our previous blog here for details.

Chile -CLG has been added

CLG-01 for domestic routes; documentation must be in Spanish. English may also be used for international shipment.
CLG-02 All International Dangerous Goods Shipments destined for Chile must include a Spanish Safety Data Sheet

KYRGYZSTAN- KGG has been added.

KGG-02 Does not allow Explosives to be transported to, from, within, or over the country without permission.

Operators or carriers are always adding and changing variations. I could spend all day listing the changes. For expediency, let’s look at a common carrier that our customers use.

Federal Express-FX

Are you aware of FX-08? It is relatively new.

It says you must provide three copies of the shipper’s declaration form. At least two of those copies must have the hatched border in red. In addition, when a shipment consists of more than one outer package or overpack, one additional black and white copy of the shipper’s declaration must be affixed to each additional outer package.

It is important to check the operator and state variations that apply to your company each year to avoid delays.

If you need help understanding the state and operator variations or any other part of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, our team of experts is just a call away for our customers at 855.734.5469 or send us an email, we’re happy to help.