Cargo Acceptance - Legal Basis

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), creates and enforces international law for civil air transportation. The ICAO regulations for dangerous goods are codified in Annex 18 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and in its Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air. The provisions of the Technical Instructions are adopted into legislation by the State authority responsible for civil aviation, which establishes legal authority.

The IATA DGR contains all the requirements of the ICAO Technical Instructions, along with some additional requirements, which are more restrictive. The DGR provides a list of over three thousand of the most commonly transported dangerous goods. Each listing includes the proper shipping name and the UN identification number and provides the proper methods to safely classify, document, package, mark, label, handle, and load individual classes of dangerous goods.

In the United States, the Department of Transportation (DOT) enforces ICAO standards and regulations through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The independent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also uses the ICAO standards and regulations. The ICAO Technical Instructions are located in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, CFR 172.101 and 173.21.

To learn more about Cargo Acceptance visit our IATA DGR Cargo Acceptance Online Training web page.