IMDG Amendments Voluntary From 1 January 2017
The amendments will be mandatory from the 1 January 2018. Ship operators intending to carry packaged dangerous goods are encouraged to consider adopting the changes from as early as 1 January 2017.
There are a significant amount of changes to the code, and as such the IMO have fully revised volumes 1 and 2 of the code. The supplement volume will remain the same as the 2014 edition.
Changes of particular interest include:
- 8 new UN numbers (UN3527 to UN3534) will be introduced. These cover items such as polyester resin kits, polymersizing substances, and engines and machinery.
- Engines used to be covered by UN3166 and this number included vehicles. This UN number now only covers vehicles. Engines and machinery will change to UN3528 to UN3530.
- Vehicles are still not subject to the provisions of the code if the conditions noted in the revised special provision 961 are met.
- There is a new class 9 label included; this is to cover lithium metal and lithium ion cells. This is largely due to the recent issues with mobile phone batteries that have been reported as catching fire. North of England reported on this particular matter in October, the article can be viewed here: /news/industry-news/lithium–ion-batteries/.
- There are a large number of new packing instructions added or amended.
IMO resolution 406.(96) can be viewed here.