Mandatory compliance will be required from 1 January 2016
In May 2014 IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee adopted the amendments to the IMDG Code contained inResolution MSC.372(93) Amendments to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code.
| Contracting governments may apply the new requirements, in part or in whole, on a voluntary basis from 1January 2015. Mandatory compliance will be required from 1 January 2016. Some existing provisions concerning labelling and warning marks may continue to be applied until 31 December 2016. |
Of the numerous changes to the Code detailed inMSC.372(93), several are of particular interest:
- Twenty new United Nations (UN) numbers have been added (UN3507 to UN3526), covering various absorbed gases, uranium hexafluoride, asymmetric capacitors and discarded, empty, unclean packaging.
- The Dangerous Goods List has been reorganised and column 16 has been divided to cover separately stowage and handling (16a) and segregation (16b). Stowage on deck and/or under deck is still defined by stowage categories 01 to 05 (Class 1) and A to E (Classes 2 – 9). Provisions related to the stowage, handling and segregation, which were previously detailed in full in column 16, are now coded using one or more of 28 stowage codes (prefix SW), 4 handling codes (prefix H) and 75 segregation codes (prefix SG).
- Numerous amendments have been made to the provisions covering Class 7 radioactive goods.
- A number of changes to the special provisions and packing instructions have been introduced.
The 37-14 amendments have been incorporated into the 2014 edition of the IMDG Code which is due for publication in November 2014.
Further details may be found by reading IMO MSC.372(93)
Source: The West of England P&I Club
