The International Trade Blog Export Forms

Creating the IATA Dangerous Goods Form: The Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods

On: August 5, 2024 | By: Robert Smith | 11 min. read

Whenever you ship any item, getting it there safely is of utmost importance. That’s especially true when shipping dangerous or hazardous goods that have the potential of causing harm if not packaged, handled and transported carefully.

Providing a properly completed dangerous goods declaration to the carrier is an important step in helping ensure that safety. But before I show you how you can quickly create the IATA and IMO dangerous goods forms, make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don’t miss any of our videos sharing practical advice for exporters and importers.

The International Air Transport Association or IATA has created a set of regulations for shipping dangerous goods by air that regulate how to classify, mark, pack, label and document the goods using the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods that includes the red borders along the side of the form.

The International Maritime Organization or IMO requires ocean shippers of dangerous goods to follow the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Regulations Code to accurately complete the IMO version of the form.

The IATA form requires the name and address of the shipper and the consignee, the air waybill number, the airports of departure and destination, whether the items are radioactive, and specific information about the dangerous goods included with the shipment including the UN Number, Proper Shipping Name, Classification, Packing Group, and Quantity and Type of Packaging.

In addition, shipper’s should include any additional handling instructions that will ensure the safe transport of the items, a 24-hour emergency contact telephone number that will be monitored during the entire transport of the items, and the name and title of the person completing the form.

The IMO form requires the name and address of the shipper and the consignee, the bill of lading number, the vessel information including the date of departure, the port where the goods are being loaded on the vessel, additional handling information, the container number, seal number, container size and type, the weight of the empty containers, and the total weight of the loaded containers.

For the dangerous goods items, the form requires the quantity, type of packaging and size, a description of the goods, and the weight of the items.

Finally, it’s mandatory to include the signature and details of the person and company packing the goods, handling the goods, and preparing the declaration.

Whether you are shipping by air or by ocean–filling out the IATA dangerous goods form or the IMO form–it’s important that the people filling out the form and handling the goods are properly trained in the regulations.

Shipping Solutions export documentation and compliance software makes it easy to create more than two dozen standard export forms including the dangerous goods forms.

With Shipping Solutions, you don’t need to keep entering the same information over and over again on the various forms. Instead you can enter the contact, product and shipment information just once, and the software puts the right information on the right export forms in the right format, allowing you to create those documents up to five-times faster than you do it now.

Once you’ve imported or entered all your shipping information into Shipping Solutions, you can preview, print and email your documents right from the software.

Click here to watch a free demo of the software, or click the link in the description below to schedule a free live demo of the software. Don’t worry; there’s no obligation.

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Before you can ship dangerous goods by air, you need to properly complete the required transport documents: the air waybill and the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods.

The main purpose of the Dangerous Goods Declaration (DGD) is for the shipper to provide critical information to the aircraft operator or carrier in a format that is consistent throughout the transportation industry. This standard is part of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR).

Section 8 of the IATA-DGR begins with the statement: “A Shipper’s Declaration must be completed by the shipper for each consignment of dangerous goods.”

There are nine materials that have a low risk and are excepted from this requirement:

UN 3164, Articles, pressurized, hydraulic
UN 3164, Articles, pressurized, pneumatic
UN 3373, Biological substance, Category B
UN 1845, Carbon dioxide, solid (dry ice) when used as a refrigerant for other than dangerous goods
Dangerous goods in excepted quantities
UN 3245, Genetically modified organisms and genetically modified microorganisms
Lithium ion or lithium metal cells or batteries meeting the provisions of Section II of Packing Instructions 965–970
UN 2807, Magnetized material
Radioactive material, excepted packages

For each consignment of dangerous goods as defined and regulated by the DGR, the shipper is required to:

Use only the correct form in the correct manner.
Ensure the information is accurate, easy to identify, legible and durable.
Ensure that the shipment has been prepared in accordance with the DGR.

These requirements are essentially what the dangerous goods shipper is declaring when they complete the IATA Dangerous Goods form and what appears in bold type in the bottom left-hand corner of the form:

I hereby declare that the contents of this consignment are fully and accurately described above by the proper shipping name, and are classified, packaged, marked, labeled/placarded, and are in all respects in proper condition for transport according to applicable international and national government regulations. I declare that all of the applicable air transport requirements have been met.

The Dangerous Goods Declaration must be signed and dated by the shipper. Other persons employed to act on behalf of the shipper such as consolidators, freight forwarders and cargo agents may sign the DGD on behalf of the shipper.

Even though the IATA specifies retention of the transport documents for a minimum of three months, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires 24 months. Electronic versions may be used if they can be reproduced in printed form.

Completing the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods

The following information should be included on the top half of the IATA Dangerous Goods form:

Shipper—Full name and address of the shipper.
Consignee—Full name and address of consignee.
Air Waybill Number—The number of the air waybill (AWB) to which the declaration form will be attached. This number may be left blank and completed by the shipper’s agent or airline.
Page of Pages—The page number and the total number of pages. For example, a single page will read “Page 1 of 1.”
Shipper’s Reference Number—Optional field providing the shipper with an opportunity to enter an internal organization reference number.
Transport Details—Specifies if there are aircraft limitations. The shipper indicates if the consignment complies with the limitations for passenger and cargo aircraft, or if the consignment is limited to cargo aircraft only. Passenger aircraft limits are more restrictive. The shipper must strike out the box that doesn’t apply.
Airport of Departure—Enter the full name of the airport or city of departure. The three-letter airport code is not acceptable. This information can be left blank and completed by the agent or airline.
Airport of Destination—Enter the full name of the airport or city of destination. The three-letter airport code is not acceptable. This information can be left blank and completed by the agent or airline.
Shipment Type—Non-Radioactive/Radioactive. The shipper must strike out the box that doesn’t apply.

Two IATA Dangerous Goods Declaration Formats

There are two acceptable IATA Dangerous Goods Declaration formats—one that lists the product information in columns and one that uses a non-columnar or open format. You’ll find a sample columnar form here and a non-columnar form here.

The open format of the IATA-DGD form lacks the defined columns. Instead, the open format requires the shipper to enter the four sections of information listed below using a double hash mark (“//”) to separate each section.

Regardless of which format you use, the remaining information on the DGD is the same; it’s just formatted slightly differently.

Nature and Quantity of Dangerous Goods

The Nature and Quantity of Dangerous Goods box on the form is broken down into four sections. This is important for explaining the required information and how it is presented. (Radioactive shipments require more specific details and aren’t covered here.)

Section One: Identification

The first section includes four pieces of information that identify the article or substance being shipped. The identification or basic description is standardized globally by the way it is formatted. This format provides emergency responders the immediate information they need to react appropriately in case of an emergency.

This section starts with the UN or ID number from Column A in Section 4.2 of the DG list. All entries begin with UN, with one exception: consumer commodities, which is ID 8000.

The third part of this section is the class or division of material followed by any possible subsidiary risk from Column C of Section 4.2.

Part four, when assigned, is the packing group. There are three packing groups that indicate the degree of danger and are indicated in Roman numerals I, II or III. Not all goods have packing groups.

All of the information in this section must be in the correct order with no other unrelated information interspersed. For example, an entry may look like: UN1993, Flammable liquid, n.o.s. (Acetone solution) 3, III.

Section Two: Quantity and Type of Packing

From my experience, this is where most shippers have problems.

Start with the total number of packages of the same type and content and then the type of packaging. You can enter the name of the packaging used or enter the UN codes for the type of packaging and the material of construction. There are no requirements to indicate the number of inner packages.

Referring to the maximum net quantity indicated in Columns H, J or L in Section 4.2 of the DGR, enter the net quantity, abbreviated or in full, in each package in weight or volume or, when applicable, the gross weight. You must enter this information for each item in your shipment bearing a different proper shipping name, UN/ID number or packaging group.

When you have used an overpack, you must include the words “Overpack Used” immediately after all the entries related to packages within the overpack. These packages are always listed first on the IATA DG form. Multiple overpacks with identical contents are identified as “Overpacks Used x (the number of identical overpacks).” Multiple overpacks with different contents must be identified separately.

There may be other details that you may be required to enter here, but which can’t be covered in an article like this and require DG training. This includes the specific format required for “explosives” entries and “no-limit” entries; and “all packed in one” entries and their corresponding Q values.

Section Three: Packing Instruction

Enter the applicable packing instruction.

When shipping dangerous goods by air, there are a variety of packing requirements. These are specified in Section 5 of the DGR.

Each entry in the list may have three choices with specific packing instructions to follow. These packaging instructions all have three numbers and start with the class number. They are: limited quantities (which start with the letter Y), passenger and cargo aircraft and cargo aircraft only.

Even though the list in DGR Section 4.2 provides the maximum package net weight or volumes, it is important that the shipper consult these packing instruction details in Section 5 since they will provide the specific requirements depending on the packaging selected or permitted.

Section Four: Authorizations

Certain entries can only be transported by air based on special provisions usually mandated by competent authorities. The DOT is the competent authority in the U.S. These special provisions include quantity limitations, packaging requirements, aircraft type and any other relevant information. The special provision number that includes a prefix of the letter A must be entered here.

Additional Handling Information

Enter any specific handling information relevant to the consignment.

The emergency response telephone number for shipments to, through or from the U.S. must be entered here. The telephone number is not required for limited quantities.

For infectious substances, the name and telephone number of a responsible person must be included.

For self-reactive substances and organic peroxides, the shipper must indicate that the packages containing these substances must be protected from direct sunlight and stored away from all heat sources in a well-ventilated area.

Name of Signatory

Finally, the bottom section of the DGD requires a signature with:

The name of the person signing, which is mandatory and must be printed.
The date can be written out in full or in any of the following formats: DD/MM/YYYY, DD.MM.YYYY or DD/MMM/YYYY.

Who Should Complete the IATA Form?

When shipping dangerous goods by air, the shipper is responsible for completing the Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods form. The person completing the form should be properly trained. As you can imagine, the form needs to be correctly completed in detail, or your shipment may be rejected.

In fact, proper training is required under federal and/or state regulations to handle dangerous goods and/or hazardous materials. (To understand the distinction, read the article Hazardous Materials vs. Dangerous Goods: What's the Difference?) This ensures that everyone who directly affects the safety of a shipment is knowledgeable in all the specific job-related functions that may directly apply to them such as identification, classification, packaging, marking, labeling/placarding and completing the appropriate shipping papers.

You’ll find an explanation of the different types of hazmat training options that are available in the article, Training Employees Ensures Compliance with Hazmat Shipping Regulations.

The Easy Way to Complete Dangerous Goods Forms

Shipping Solutions Professional export documentation and compliance software is the easy way to complete your IATA and IMO Dangerous Goods forms. If you already know all the dangerous goods-related information for your products, you can store them in the Shipping Solutions Product Database so the information automatically fills in when you select your products.

If you don’t yet know the dangerous goods information for your products, Shipping Solutions Professional includes the IATA database of dangerous goods, so you can use the software to find the appropriate information and then complete the dangerous goods forms.

The video at the top of the page shows how to store your products' DG information in the Shipping Solutions database, how to create the documents on the EZ Start screen, and all the options for printing the documents.

The video transcript is below the video, and if you have any trouble viewing the video, you can watch it on our website support page or YouTube channel. Check out our other videos too!

Disclaimer

Proper training is required under federal and/or state regulations to handle dangerous goods and/or hazardous materials. All persons and entities must comply with all federal regulations, including but not limited to the specific training requirements of 49 C.F.R. (172.000– 172.704). InterMart provides this form and instructions to assist properly trained shippers.

The materials provided by Shipping Solutions in no way alter, satisfy or influence any federal or state requirements. The information provided does not meet the training requirements as required in DOT 49 CFR. The study and/or use of Shipping Solutions software does not qualify an individual to prepare, package, transport or otherwise handle dangerous goods or hazardous materials.

The information contained in this document is subject to change or update due to changing government regulations. The user of this document assumes responsibility for complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the shipment of dangerous goods. InterMart shall not be held responsible for any loss, injury and/or damage caused by errors, omissions, misprints or misrepresentations of the contents of this software, forms or documentation or for any unauthorized or inappropriate use.

See how Shipping Solutions can help your company complete dangerous goods forms: Sign up now for a free online demo. There's no obligation!

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This article was first published in September 2017 and has been updated to include current information, links and formatting.

About the Author: Robert Smith

Robert M. Smith is CEO and senior instructor of CARGOpak Corp. based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Robert is a dangerous goods and hazmat specialist with more than 30 years experience as a consultant, UN POP designer, and dangerous goods and hazmat training facilitator.

His company consults with clients on various hazmat compliance issues as well as develops and conducts training on dangerous goods/hazmat transport both domestically and internationally through a variety of training formats including web-based, on-site, and public classes. Robert has assisted a broad range of clients in dangerous goods/hazmat transport compliance through the United States, Canada and abroad.