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LOOSE CHANGE
The session was the second of four planned for the current regulatory biennium, which will result in the adoption this coming December by the parent Committee of the changes that will appear in the 22nd revised edition of the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (alternatively known as the UN Model Regulations or the ‘Orange Book’). The second meeting of the biennium is traditionally one that covers a lot of work and the December session was no exception, with the experts faced by a weighty agenda.
series H, operating under the International Group of Experts on Unstable and Energetic Substances (IGUS) working group on Energetic and Oxidising Substances (EOS). Test series H contains test methods for the determination of self-accelerating decomposition temperature (SADT) and self-accelerating polymerisation temperature (SAPT). A draft was provided for a thorough revision of section 28.1 of the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria. The Sub-committee took note of the work done and invited experts to provide any comments in writing to the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) so that the proposal can be revised accordingly and presented at the next session in an official document. Cefic had also brought along a formal proposal to deal with the issue of determining the control temperature of samples of energetic substances, as required by 2.4.2.3.4
EXPLOSIVES ISSUES Kicking off with discussions on Class 1 substances and articles, the experts heard from the chairman of the Working Group on Explosives about the ongoing work of the ad hoc working group on the revision of UN test
and 2.5.3.4 of the Manual of Tests and Criteria, when the SADT is not yet available. At the previous session, Cefic had offered the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as a possible solution, particularly as this is already referenced in the Manual of Tests and Criteria. Its paper offered a new flowchart to
INTERNATIONAL • THE UN EXPERTS MADE A FEW CORRECTIONS TO THE CURRENT MODEL REGULATIONS AS THEY MADE THEIR WAY THROUGH A LONG LIST OF PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENT The UN Sub-committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (TDG) held its 56th session this past 4 to 10 December. Duane Pfund (US) acted as chair, with Claude Pfauvadel (France) sitting as vice-chair. The session was attended by experts from 18 countries and representatives from the EU, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and 20 non-governmental organisations.
THE EXPERTS’ LATEST AMENDMENTS WILL FILTER DOWN TO THE MODAL REGULATIONS IN 2023
HCB MONTHLY | APRIL 2020
