Dear Comrades,
UPU News-New mailing rule to allow transport of lithium batteries
Posts worldwide will be able to carry packages containing equipment with limited quantities of lithium batteries and cells as of 1 January 2013, according to new international mailing rules.
If
their Post adopts the rule, customers will be able to send some
equipment with lithium batteries by international mail in 2013.
The Universal Postal Union and the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) have worked together to harmonize their respective
technical instructions to admit the air transportation of postal items
containing lithium batteries that are properly packed.
Posts wanting to apply the new rule as of 1 January 2013 have to
coordinate training initiatives for postal staff with their national
civil aviation authority.
Posts will then be able to accept international mail items containing
equipment with up to four lithium cells or two lithium batteries already
installed in the equipment being sent by post.
Currently, in accordance with ICAO rules, lithium cells and batteries
are considered dangerous goods prohibited from travelling by air in the
international mail stream.
UPU member countries requested changes to this rule in view of the
growth in e-commerce and to be able to better meet customers’ delivery
needs.
