The regulations covering the shipment of dangerous goods by air, sea, road and rail are ammended bi-annually and sometimes annually.

On this page we hope to keep you one step ahead by forewarning you of possible changes as they are discussed in committee and the implications.

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'Shipper Imprisoned for Sending Undeclared Dangerous Goods'

Trader who turned jet into flying timebomb
(extract from Sunday Express – 1 January 2006)

“Passengers aboard a jumbo jet were blissfully unaware it was carrying cargo that could have blown their plane from the sky. Packed into an ordinary-looking cardboard box in the hold were chemicals used to make weapons and rocket fuel destined for Iran . An escape of gas could have caused an explosion or the release of poison fumes into the cabin with deadly results for the 163 passengers and 17 crew aboard the flight from Heathrow to Dubai Their British Airways Boeing 747 landed safely but the businessman who thought up the terrifying scheme was last week jailed for a year.

In the first prosecution of its kind, Manu Chandnani, of Penenden Heath, Maidstone, arranged for the three chemicals – two of which can be used to make weapons and the rocket fuel – to be flown to Tehran via Dubai . They were packed into a plain cardboard box with no labelling or accurate documentation, Maidstone Crown Court was told. The chemicals were so dangerous that not only are they banned from being transported by air but also prohibited from being sent to Tehran because of the suspicions over Iran's ambitions to build nuclear weapons.

Chandnani, 54, who runs a one-man business called Scott Science in Headcorn, Kent, admitted endangering the safety of the aircraft and causing dangerous chemicals to be carried on the plane. He had labelled the contents of the box as a lab test kit”.

This incident was investigated jointly by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates . Expert opinion regarding a spillage of the chemicals (methylhydrazine, thionyl chloride or phosphorus oxychloride) found on board the aircraft was that it could have resulted in lethal effects within a period of hours.