IATA: Class 7 Shipper's Responsibility

A Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods and an Air Waybill are required for each consignment of radioactive material, unless otherwise specified.

The shipper is responsible for providing the appropriate information to the operator. The shipper must do the following for each shipment containing radioactive material:

• Use only the correct form in the correct manner.
• Ensure the information on the form is accurate, easy to identify, legible, and durable.
• Ensure that the form is properly signed when the shipment is presented to the operator.
• Ensure that the shipment has been prepared in accordance with IATA regulations.

The shipper must also retain a copy of the Shipper's Declaration and any additional documentation for a minimum of three months.

In addition to the documentation regulations described in Section 8 for the Shipper's Declaration, radioactive material must be specified in the Shipment Type. Radioactive material must not be listed on the same declaration form as other dangerous goods, except for dry ice when it is used as a refrigerant.

In the Nature and Quantity of Dangerous Goods section of the declaration form, radioactive material must follow this sequence:

• UN number
• Proper shipping name
• Class number - 7
• Any assigned subsidiary hazard class or division number
• The packing group, for any radioactive materials with a subsidiary risk
• Name or symbol of each radionuclide, or for mixtures, an appropriate general description or a list of the most restrictive radionuclides; a description of the physical and chemical form of the material, or a notation that the material is Special Form radioactive material or low dispersible material
• Number of packages, their type of package and activity in Becquerel or multiples thereof
• When an overpack is used, the wording "Overpack Used" must be inserted on the declaration immediately following all relevant entries relating to the packages within the overpack
• Category of packages, or overpacks, or freight containers (such as I-White, II-Yellow, or III-Yellow)

A list of the identification marks of any of the following documents issued by a competent authority:

• Special Form approval certificate
• Low Dispersible Material certificate
• Type B package design approval certificate
• Type B(M) package shipment approval certificate
• Type C package design approval and shipment approval certificate
• Fissile Material package design approval certificate
• Fissile Material package shipment approval certificate
• Fissile Material excepted under 10.3.7.2.6 of the IATA DGR
• Special Arrangement approval certificate
• Any similar documents
• Where a consignment is required to be shipped under exclusive use, the statement "Exclusive Use Shipment"
• For LSA-II, LSA-III, SCO-I, and SCO-II, the total activity of the consignment as a multiple of A2

The first sequence contains items 1 through 4, the second sequence contains items 6 through 8, the third sequence contains item 9, and the fourth sequence contains items 10 through 12. Each sequence must be clearly identified or separated.

Any additional special handling information must be included on the declaration form. This includes the following:

• Any special stowage provisions that may be required for the safe dissipation of heat from the package
• For Type B(M) package, any statement that no supplementary operational controls are required, when appropriate
• Any restrictions on the type of aircraft and any necessary routing instructions
• Emergency arrangements appropriate to the shipment

Sample Shipper's Declaration forms for radioactive material are provided in Subsection 10.8.6 of the IATA DGR.

To learn more about Multimodal Shipping visit our Multimodal DOT, IATA & IMDG HAZMAT Shipping Online Training web page.