Competent Authority Approval

A Competent Authority Approval (CAA) is an approval issued by a national agency responsible under its national law, for regulating hazardous materials transportation. CAAs can also be called "Special Approvals".

For the U.S., the Competent Authority is the Department of Transportation (DOT). CAAs are used for both domestic and international shipments. All approvals must be in English.

A CAA can be issued for packaging or other transportation requirements, when specified by the responsible national agency where the shipment originated. This includes CAAs issued by the DOT and foreign agencies.

You can use the CAA as authority for a military air shipment. Follow all requirements of the approval. A copy of the CAA must be provided for each applicable shipment, and the CAA must accompany the cargo in the Defense Transportation System. A copy must be attached to the Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods.

Requests for copies of existing CAAs must be forwarded according to the Defense Transportation Requirements 4500.9-R Part II.

To learn more about Shipping HAZMAT visit our Shipping HAZMAT By Military Aircraft Online Training web page.