Lithium Batteries Section 1B & IATA Shipper’s Declaration

Lithium Batteries on IATA Shipper’s Declaration

One of my favorite cartoons growing up was “Scooby Doo”. Nothing made me laugh more than when Scooby would say, “Ruh roh, Raggy” when he was trying to say, “Uh oh, Shaggy”. This was usually in situations where things had gone terribly wrong. I had one of those moments recently and it was in regards to lithium batteries.

In one of my recent training classes, we were digging into the IATA Shipper’s Declaration and how to complete it. Anyone that handles these knows there are lots of things to include. As the discussion moved to the “Nature and Quantity of Goods” section, we were cruising. Everyone understood the process and how great IATA is about explaining what goes where. The examples in Chapter 8 are awesome!

The “Ruh roh” moment came as we were discussing the inclusion of the Packing Instruction number. Most of us are familiar with the first part of that step. It tells us that for all of our shipments, we add the number of the Packing Instruction we followed for said shipment. In Section 8.1.6.9.3 of IATA, it says the following:

Step 8. Number of Packing Instruction or Limited Quantity Packing Instruction (with its “Y” prefix) (Columns G, I or K). For lithium batteries prepared in accordance with Section IB of Packing Instruction 965 or Packing Instruction 968 the letters “IB” must be added following the packing instruction number.

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids… (Not Really)

What I failed to read was the rest of the paragraph. It clearly states that for shipments of lithium batteries prepared under Section 1B, you have to include the letters “IB” after the Packing Instruction number. There is even an additional note in this section. It says if you can’t fit the letters “IB” in the column with the Packing Instruction number that it is ok to put it in the authorizations column.

This information is not found in the Packing Instructions themselves. Neither PI965 nor PI968 mention of this requirement to include the letters “IB” on the declarations.

Needless to say, after class that day I made a note to update all of our training materials on batteries to include this information.

For all of your lithium battery needs, contact ICC Compliance Center today. We have updated classes for both webinars and public courses, new handling marks, and new class 9 labels ready for you.