Regulatory Lithium warning label on packaging should not prevent shipments

6 Jan 2023

New regulation recommendations have been given for air freight delivery regarding shipment of lithium batteries as outlined at the following web page.

Guidance for Lithium Batteries

A regulatory Lithium warning label can now be found on the side of the packaging for our individual products and on the outside of our shipping boxes. The battery cells in new product units from us should also be at or below 30 to 50 percent charge of capacity as recommended. Some shipping agencies and regulators may request or require you to provide additional documentation before allowing shipment. Most often a simple letter is needed such as the example at the following web page, properly marked as described below.

UPS Customer Center—Lithium Battery Safety Document for Ground Package

The Li-Ion battery packs of our product are exempt under UN 3481 (PI 967 - “Contained in equipment”) when shipped inside the product, UN 3481 (PI 966 - “Packed with equipment”) when shipped in the box with the product, or UN 3480 (PI 965 - “Batteries only”) when shipped alone without the product. Air freight restrictions under UN 3090 should not apply to the rechargeable battery packs used with our Juniper brand/based products. Even the separate commercial airlines restrictions would not apply under PI 967 - “Contained in equipment” when shipped inside the rugged handheld computer (if our battery packs contained a restricted chemistry composition, which they do not).

The OEM battery cells used in our products which are addressed in these information sheets are generally viewed as “articles” that are exempt from requirements for mSDS (material Safety Data Sheet) such as the Hazard Communication Standard of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and similar requirements in other countries. In particular, these products are manufactured according to a specific design, have an end-use dependent upon such design, and do not normally release more than trace amounts of hazardous chemicals.

If further documentation is desired, Juniper Systems provides links to applicable battery cell material Safety Data Sheets (mSDS or SDS) and related product information sheets as a service to its customers, even though it should not actually be required for shipments (unless the shipment packaging has become extremely damaged). Further information is provided below.

Shipping loose batteries via air transport to restricted countries such as Australia may now only be allowed if using an alternative carrier such as DHL. DHL may be able to service locations that cannot be serviced via UPS. Some passenger aircraft no longer allow loose batteries to be shipped separate from equipment even under IATA Packing Instruction 965 (PI 965). Carriers such as UPS may only be able to use passenger aircraft to service countries like Australia. Alternative carriers such DHL may have or use cargo flights to such restrictive countries, though they may charge an additional HazMat (Hazardous Material) fee despite normal allowances.

 

Article slightly modified on 6 Jan 2023, original article from 28 Sep 2016